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La Poste in my village


Chancer
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There has been a polémique ever since I have lived here about our local bureau being Under threat, instead of modernising, opening hours that suit people, offering other services etc they have gone the other way and continually reduced their opening hours, its a surprise when I drive past to see it open even more so to see customers in there.

Need to return a colis so looked on the La Poste web site, our bureau is not open Saturdays ever it opens for 3 hours on 3 afternoons a week except for most of them it displays the very tatty and well used "Fermeture exceptionnel" sign [:'(] if you are Lucky enough to find them accepting customers during those hours you have one hour and fifteen minutes from when they open to send a letter or a parcel otherwise it will remain there at least 2 more days and possibly up to 5 days [:(]

 

The première adjoint told me that they were fighting to keep it open because it serves 30 customers a week [:-))] I told him that the one in my village in Sussex would have to serve at least that amount every opening hour to remain viable and they are open 4 or 5 times as many hours per week, it has modernised, is now thriving and is an important community hub whereas the staff in the bureau La Poste in my village scowl at you for disrupting their sieste.

 

What shocks me is that this has been going on like this for 11 years to my knowledge and probably a lot longer, how long does a business need to be dying in  France before it is eventually given the coup de grâce? A very long time indeed judging by most failing businesses that I see. 

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Chancer .........

Re the return of your colis, I was sorting out some paperwork the other day and came across a 'flyer' which was left in our postbox about a year ago.

"Nouveau: envoyez et renvoyez vos Colissimo depuis votre boite aux lettres". Put simply, you go online and register your colis the evening before, print off a special label and leave the colis in your boite aux lettres (obviously no good for a really large parcel). The facteur picks it up the following morning and you get a receipt and subsequent delivery confirmation.

It sounds quite good, but I've never used it. Maybe they don't offer it 'up north' ?

If you want to see the flyer, pm me your email address and I'll scan it and send to you.

To be honest, the post office here is very good. Modern premises (a building shared with the new Mairie) and a very friendly and efficient counter lady. Its quite busy, but you never have to wait that long. Only closed Sundays and Weds pm. The village is about 1000 inhabitants, but the 'catchment area' would more than double that.
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The parcel is too big for the letterbox and I have to get a receipt tamponnée but yes I had heard of the service.

 

Norman, yes if it is costing the commune any significant sum, there is another in the next village (2km away) that at least has caught up with the last century and the one in the local town (2.5km away) has moved to new premises, is right up to date, has a Banque Postale counter and even the staff have been dragged screaming into the 21st century, its very very good which for these parts is quite shocking.

 

We are only 1250 inhabitants in our village, of which 30 or so a week use La Poste.

 

I have only just bought my second book of 10 stamps since moving to France!  They have gone up a lot in the meantime!!!!!

 

Actually I think its the 3rd book as the last ones were timbre vert. So in 11 years I have put 22 letters in the post box there and visited maybe 6 or 7 times usually to collect parcels.

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We live in a commune of less than 300 permanent souls. La Poste struggled for years but for many this is where they extract cash from a bank account as well as the usual postal services. When La Poste decided to close, the commune took over and installed a sub-la poste in the back of the already subsidised store. I regret not one centime of the charges I pay in tax to subsidise this service. The next La Poste office is a 22km round trip which I suppose is fine for the fit, healthy and rich enough to run a car. For the old, infirm and those on low income this would be a nightmare. Average(declared) income per foyer in our commune is under €9k, so a loss of La Poste would present a massive problem that could even result in individuals having to move from their homes to some form of sheltered accommodation - not a good deal for the state.

It is easy to take a simplistic bean counting approach and convince yourself that the world outside big cities does not need to exist. A complete and utter folly in my mind and in the end a much more expensive way to run society - such as it would become.
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We have an agence in our small village which we use as much as possible on a "use it or lose

 it " basis.

In the nearest town there is a quite large La Poste but without a cash machine. When I asked why, I was told it would make the counter service un-viable. I thought but didn't say "what about when the Poste is closed?" Obviously I don't know if what she said was the real reason but it makes you wonder.

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I m absolutely for supporting local services, use it or lose it, I completely get that.

 

But most people in my village work, to have a La Poste open for 3 constantly changing afternoons a week, for only 3 hours, to have to get there within the first 75 minutes in order to be sure that your letter or parcel is sent that day and not 4 days later, to find that half the times you go there it is exceptionally closed, to be met with the frostiest reception that could exist, to be told that the serviec you wat to use, the one you use all the time in La poste in town does not exist, that you must pay more, that no you cannot have a reciept when you know you can, that no, they will not count the cash you are paying in on the counter where you can see it..................................................

 

Is it really any surprise that people no longer bother and go to either of the thriving La Postes within a 2.5km radius and that they only serve 30 customers a week?

 

It could be thriving but people are very têtu here and wont go back once they have jumped ship. 

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We also have an agency that's open every morning till 12.30 and it's quite well used. The lady who runs it is very friendly and helpful too.

La Poste installed a large external post box just outside the office so that when the office is shut there's still the fascility to post letters. Parcels would have to go to another village though.

There's less than 1000 people in our village, but it's slowly getting larger.

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I have looked on La Poste web site and it seems that the post office in my old village is only open four days a week now, but they do not say which hours........how helpful!

I daresay not many hours, as that is how it was going. I saw the service diminish over the years.

Getting on for twenty years ago, in some of the small mountain villages the post offices were closed and a counter put in the bar/tabac. Seemed to work ok, although it did shock me initially.

Now main post offices in the Uk are often in shops, and too often not easily accessible, which actually infuriates me as I do not know how people who have mobility problems can get to them.

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My nearest post office closed a while back and they opened some kind of Post Office Lite service in the Marie.

Which is fine except its the one woman in the mayors office who does both jobs and whenever I go in to post something there is the usual selection of giffers queued up to complain about the street lighting or whatever to the mayors office.

Weird opening hours seems to be becomming more and more common for various things. For example the local dump have always been open every morning (except mondays, obviously!) and all day Saturday - easy enough to remember but now they have changed to 3 hours one morning, 2 hours another afternoon, closed some day, 3 hours the next morning or whatever it is, with no logic to it and not easy to remember.

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You wana think yersel lucky Dave! Our dechetterie is closed all day Sunday. When we go in to empty the trailer of our garden waste the bloke in there usuall takes the fork of SWMBO and insists on getting on the other side to me and empties it! So don't complain too much init [:-))]

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