Three Sub-Post Offices To Close On Nov 1st
[Updated with video] Three sub-post offices — St David’s, Harrington Sound and Somerset Bridge — will be closing effective November 1st 2014, Minister of National Security Michael Dunkley said today.
The Minister said, “The public will recall that the SAGE Commission’s Final Report of October 2013 addressed the lack of efficiencies presented by maintaining a postal system that only minimally takes account of these advances in technology and their effect on communication.
“The three sub-post offices earmarked for closure are St. David’s, Harrington Sound and Somerset Bridge. These facilities will close with effect from 1st November 2014.
The Minister added, “In closing these three sites no jobs will be lost. While some staff will be transferred to other areas into vacant posts, I wish to assure residents that home delivery of mail in these areas will continue.
“In keeping with the spirit of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, this morning a team from the Ministry has already met with representatives of the Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Public Services Union and the affected staff to advise them of these changes.
“The immediate savings resulting from these closures will be about $75,000; however, as part of the closure plan, the Government is considering options including the sale, lease or alternate use of the sites, each of which would realize further savings or additional revenue,” added the Minister.
The SAGE report that was released last year called the Post Office a “costly example of the consequences of not implementing change” and said it has seen mail volumes declining by 1 million pieces [7%] per year.
The report said the last decade saw losses of $56 million [compared to $7m loss and $1m profit in prior decades] and said if no action is taken, losses of approximately $134 million are projected over the next decade.
The budget [PDF] showed that in 2011/12 the Post Office had $5.37 million in revenue and $13.98 million in expenses, creating a loss of approximately $8.6 million that year – or around $23,500 a day.
The SAGE Commission recommended that Government close all post offices but three — one in Hamilton, one in the East and one in the West — with the buildings they are located in to be sold, rented or repurposed.
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Good afternoon and thank you for coming.
For over a century the Bermuda Post Office has been a reliable and strong institution. From the days of Postmaster William Perot, Bermudians have relied on the Post Office to deliver mail locally and from overseas.
With the advent of the telephone, email and instant messaging via social media, the business conditions for the running of the Post Office have become increasingly challenging.
This means that it is prudent to examine the business model and to develop ways to increase efficiencies and realize new opportunities to increase revenue.
The public will recall that the SAGE Commission’s Final Report of October 2013 addressed the lack of efficiencies presented by maintaining a postal system that only minimally takes account of these advances in technology and their effect on communication.
That Report referred to the Post Office as “a costly example of the consequences of not implementing change.” This Government remains determined to make all aspects of the Public Service more efficient and to do so in a manner that preserves jobs while providing best value for the taxpayer’s dollar.
The need for change in the Post Office has been recognized by both sides of the political aisle and it was under the previous Administration that the Management Consulting Section was engaged to chart a way forward in the move towards greater efficiency in this area.
The study conducted by this Section identified three sub-Post Offices for closure. The criteria supporting this recommendation included:
1. The amount of use/customer traffic
2. The impact on the BPO’s overall mandate, and
3. The current sub-post office’s operating costs and revenue
The three (3) sub-post offices earmarked for closure are St. David’s, Harrington Sound and Somerset Bridge. These facilities will close with effect from 1st November 2014.
In closing these three sites no jobs will be lost. While some staff will be transferred to other areas into vacant posts, I wish to assure residents that home delivery of mail in these areas will continue.
In keeping with the spirit of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, this morning a team from the Ministry has already met with representatives of the Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Public Services Union and the affected staff to advise them of these changes.
The immediate savings resulting from these closures will be about $75,000; however, as part of the closure plan, the Government is considering options including the sale, lease or alternate use of the sites, each of which would realize further savings or additional revenue.
Additionally, the Post Office will communicate directly with affected residents regarding their post boxes and at-home delivery and every effort will be taken to make a seamless transition to different mail delivery and collection.
It may be useful to provide an example of the unsustainable nature of the current way we do business. The St. David’s Post Office has 683 post office boxes and only 208 of them are rented. As the SAGE Commission observed, “it is clear that the Post Office’s current business model is no longer sustainable.”
In closing, let me assure the people of Bermuda that this Government is committed to finding the right balance between the efficient delivery of public services and the economies needed to sustain them now and into the future.
Thank you.
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This is interesting.
We see that some of the SAGE recommendations are being implemented after all.
There will be a hue and cry but these closures are probably practical. What options wil be given to both St. Davids and Harrington Sound which do not seem to be on any natural alterantive post office route?
For Harrington sound, it is around the corner from Flatts Post office! Not that far.
Not far by car/bike, but possibly a pain by bus if you live near say, Devils’ Hole. #3 bus runs what, hourly?
For those of us who have a mailbox at one of these locations, what will happen to the mail that gets delivered to those boxes as we have just paid the renewal license for the year.
im sure that its not just going to be thrown away, take it easy ace girl!
@ inna, Rica has a valid question and is just asking. The post offices are quick to collect box rents (I’m a box holder) and box holders should have been informed beforehand about how these closures will affect them.
get your bills sent to you via e-mail or call Mailboxes and tell them to take over
Mailboxes????????? Friends and family again.
Friends and family Steve ???? Oh, because he is white!!! I got it now!!!!
Any information on which post offices will take up the slack?
Maybe the ones that aren’t closing!
Try not to be the donkey’s rear.
How will the boxes be allocated from the closed locations to the neighbouring locations?
Similarly for address. Will they be split between neighbouring locations where the closed offices have an office both East and West?
And so on.
In any case, it appears that all affected will receive some sort of communication in the coming days (hopefully).
What slack?
I hope the staff can be integrated, absorbed, or re deployed elsewhere.
I think the report indicated that no jobs would be lost so that alleviates *one* concern, perhaps.
I’m curious as to what the $75K savings represents though, if no salaries are reduced. Is that directly electricity and maintenance costs that make up that sum?
CORRECT!
It’s a start but the SAGE commission recommended that only three should remain open not that only three should be closed.
We need to close them all except the one in town and it should be privatised. Also, any home delivery should be privatised.
When is the PTB (buses and ferrys) going to be privatized? When are Marine and Ports, W&E, and Parks going to be privatised?
We need to privatize everything in order to get out of the financial mess that we are in.
(My sincere apologies to the dozen or so worthwhile government employees.)
all 3 are great locations for small food stores or restaurants.
Buzz management will be all over that….
This is only the beginning in the end this OBA government will dispense with postal home deliveries all together which will require the people of Bermuda to go to designated postal centres to pick up their mail which in due time they will have to pay for.- And it came to past that a new Pharaoh sat on the throne who did not know Joseph-Exodus 1:11.
Bollocks
AW: Thanks for finally confirming to us that you rely on a work of fiction. I knew something was amiss. Thsi explains everything.
More drivel Alvin? Please stop!
Alvin Williams- You’re joking right?
Maybe we could train pigeons to deliver mail… although I guess that doesn’t resolve the post office situation! Maybe we’ll just have to settle for Joseph-Exodus 1:11 or whatever it is!
And?
where were you Alvin when EB was doing foolishness and Ms Cox saying she couldn’t tell him no and EB saying I had to lie pahleeze EB thought he was Pharaoh and still thinks that change the channel change your mind
Alvin Williams!!! You are such an pessimist! Can you for once say something constructive and positive!!! We have to cut back to get this island afloat again, don’t you get that???? That’s the reality!
@ Flabbergasted.
The last comment in brackets isn’t very nice at all. Why didn’t you just read the comments and keep yours to your MF self.
He overestimates the number of useful ones…
Sorry but I don’t think that estimate is too far off. Seriously. Open your eyes.
What happens to the Post Office boxes.
they will be melted down and sold for scrap!
More jobs lost under oba ….
Nothing new
Because of the debt created by the ineptitude of the plp
Not a big reader huh?
no he just can’t read.
Doesn’t appear so! @LiarLiar It might be in your favor to read the article before commenting! You may well just be surprised!
MORE Bollocks…what about the 14 years of job losses under the plp…
how easy you forget and try to re write history.
14yrs of Job losses? Maybe I missed something.
Did I miss the public consultation period before implementation of any of the SAGE recommendation…or even the debate in the HOA…
or is this just another broken promise…
Yep, you missed it.
you forever cry fowl. you and betty must be sisters.
Yes you missed it!
It’s going to cost money to close subs, move post boxes to other locations and to fix the buildings for other use. Based on current construction costs, how much will the government have to spend out to save $75K?
Nonsense,it wont cost anything..not a cent to the Tax Payer to close those 3 offices.
As for re construction,new owners or tenants will do that to suit their needs.
Actually it probably will cost money. The boxes in use at the 3 closing Post Offices will need to be relocated to the other post offices. For those several hundred people with boxes with fully paid up rent their mail will obviously be sent somewhere else for them to pick up. There aren’t enough empty boxes to absorb them so of course the old boxes will have to be moved. At a cost.
I hope the staff from these sub-post offices are moved to the one in Hamilton because they could sure use the help.
that’s too far for those workers to travel LOL
Yes they could use help, the Post office in Hamilton is only 80% overstaffed. Yes, 80%
eight zero percent.
Makes you wonder why it takes 40 minutes to pick up a parcel when there are only 3 people in front of you. Perhaps they need to be 100% overstaffed. 2 for 1 sounds like it might work.
Somerset Bridge post office would make a great little coffee shop!!! Place opened late, closed early and had a 2 hour lunch…
And those are the hard workers they want to keep!
Great place for a small business, plenty of parking and easy access to the main road.
perhaps Mailboxes could open a branch.
Very sorry to see the beautiful, historic Somerset Bridge Post Office go. Please don’t loose the workers…they are fantastic!
We still “OWE” $2.5Billion dollars it is costing us “OVER” $120Million dollars per year in interest.The government “BORROWED” another $276Million dollars this year alone.
From a previous report the POST OFFICES were “LOOSING” $12Million dollars per year.
The “OBA” had better hurray up and get some “B@LLS” before we go belly up.The Civil Service is killing our economy they are a bunch of “BLOOD-SUCKERS”
If you live on St Davids Island ,Mail a letter to yourself in Somerset and see how long it takes to go 24 miles!
Go walk your dog
A lot of them need to be put out to pasture anyway
Great! I got a post box because the mail delivery suchks and the post office decides to! close my post office, force me to change my mailing address because my post box no longer exists! Now they will return the mail because I don’t have a mail box at my resdence -by choice. I don’t want my credt card, bank statements and other personal information put in a mailbox located on a public road! I already have converted put as much of my mail as can to online delivery… I guess more returned mail because of Post Office incompetence! SIGH…
Mr Dunkley, the immediate cost to close three post offices is a mere $75,000? Has your staff looked at how these buildings will be re-utilised and by whom?
Is the Government intending to sell the buildings as opposed to lease? And, is the market buoyant enough to make an immediate profit rather than having these buildings remain empty for long periods of time?
Wouldn’t it have been prudent to test the real estate market for what options are most attractive rather than having buildings remain empty over long periods of time? Empty and dormant buildings will cost more than $75,000, perhaps there are some other governmental uses for these empty buildings?
In the UK empty Government buildings generate profits for the public purse as they are used as a pop-up short-term lease concessions, i.e., a small quaint boutique, an art gallery, a unique product being introduced into the marketplace (not the supermarket – the business marketplace). It’s ideal as the lease is short, flexible and reasonably price and the Government can make money from its use whilst conducting a proper study (by Bermudian consultants) to find out how to get some real value and sustainability out of these buildings.
The idea is especially useful for budding entrepreneurs who need to test the market, but have limited funds to spend on premises. And the building is already ‘directions’ branded, a former government post office.
Is the Harrington Hound building a heritage graded building?
Don’t just close out and shut down under performing government operations, reinvent, reinvest and get it to market so that funds continue to flow into the Government coffers. For every door that closes there should be an opportunity announced simultaneously that is readily available for opportunities for Bermudians.
London, England
This is the thin edge of the wedge ..
I worked in the post office before recently retiring; for years when they had their annul staff meetings the one thing that came out of the mouths of postal officials; we are over staff; we need to get rid of 100 people. The minister spoke with forked tongue. You take his statement on the closing of the St. David’s sub Post Office; ‘You will still get home deliveries; but we have postal boxes and over 400 are not used’. You pick the bones out of that one and than ask yourself how long will you have home deliveries? So the mail delivery infrastructure from the close sub post offices is going to be moved in with other post offices? How many people lived in those communities over 400 and in the case of St. David’s a growing population as more people move in. I state this because the sorting racks for those areas are going to have to be fitted into very small and limited spaces. Yes there has been a decline in the volume of mail but people still get mail. You think Belco is going to stop sending out bills any time soon; Cable vision; Doctors bills and even government information; mass mailings of business advertisements. Cell phone bills and bank statements and magazines. Even international business concerns still get a lot of paper mail. Yes we do have modern information systems e-mail and the like; But the postal system is not going to close down altogether any time soon. Another thing we still have a large and growing senior population and they still expect to get their mail delivered by their postman. This is a plan and it has been thought out a long time before the so-called Sage Commission came out with it’s findings. The Sage Commission I have said it before and I will say it again; nothing more than a Trojan Horse for the policies of the OBA government. I worked for the post office for 41 years went there in my 20′s been a union rep. And at my retirement I told my working colleagues; although I am no longer going to be among you I am still going to look out for your interests; I still will defend you. And in that regard why should the families of some survive while other are made to stave? Not without resistance.
@Alvin Williams
I’m not certain what the point is you are making here. You state that it has been known for years within the post office management and employees that it was over staffed. You then agree this point by recognising that there is a significant drop of physical mail. You appear to be agreeing with the recommendation that reductions of some sort need to be made and even acknowledging that the SAGE Commission findings matched what was well known for some time before its investigation.
All that seems reasonable to me. But then in your last few sentences you appear to be saying that no measures should be taken to address the losses. The current action does not include job loses. However, I think it likely that this will happen; by either attrition, retirement, lay-offs, or all of the above. If there is less (or no) demand for a service then this will happen. It has to happen as there are no funds to support the service at its current size. It needs to adapt and reduce its cost to survive.
In the private sector this as been going on for some time. And it is the private sector that provides the funds for public sector employees’ salaries and benefits. How can the private sector employee base continue to support the public sector employee base when the private sector is shrinking but the public sector (at best) remains the same. Plus the public sector has a huge burden of debt it must service that the private sector also pays for.
You talk of resistance. Resistance to what? The government is over staffed, underfunded, and inefficient according to the investigation carried out. No one has presented any evidence to the contrary. In fact government employees have confirmed the findings at great risk to reputation and financial stability.
I hope your resistance consist of engaging in some entrepreneurial pursuits, or aiding your former colleagues in altering the nature of the service they provide to increase its relevance, or assisting them in increasing their efficiency, or something else along those lines.
If your version of resistance involves some manner of social unrest I believe you’ll do far more harm then good. What do you think the impact on tourism, international investment, and international business will be in the wake of social unrest? Like it or not IB is what is keeping this tiny speck in the Atlantic afloat. Scare it away. What do you think you’d be resisting in its absence?
Ride