The Post Office is a retail company in the United Kingdom; formerly part of the postal service Royal Mail, it became a separate entity in 1981.
Post Office Ltd was separated from the postal service Royal Mail in 1986 but remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group Ltd. A large number of its branches are under franchise agreements.
There are currently around 14,000 Post Office branches across the UK of which approxiamately 370 are directly managed by Post Office Ltd. The majority of branches are either run by multiple franchise partners or local subpostmaster agents.
Services
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The
Post Office in Oxford, UKThe Post Office has a wide variety of services throughout
the network of branches. Products and services available vary throughout the network.
Main post offices provide the full range of services.
Mail services (Royal
Mail services, stamps, Parcelforce Worldwide etc)
Personal banking services
(Paying-in, Withdrawals, Bill payments and Balance enquiries) for certain banks
and NSandI only
Business banking services
National Lottery services
Mobile
phone E-Top-up (including purchasing Top-up vouchers)
Processing passport,
fishing licences, European Health Card, international driving permits and driver's
licences applications
Selling and cashing-in postal orders
Keeping Post
Restante mail (for up to 2 weeks for local mail and up to 1 month for international
mail)
Insurance services
Home telephone services and telephone cards
Foreign
currency exchange and Travel Money Card
Personal loans
Bill payments
Sales
of gift vouchers for certain high street merchants
Sorted! magazine
Savings
stamps
Keepsafe and redirections
Some Post Offices also have cash machines,
most notably operated by Bank of Ireland.
In towns, Post Offices are usually open from around 9am to 5.30pm on Monday - Friday and from 9am to 12.30pm on Saturday. In some country areas, opening hours are much shorter - perhaps only four hours per week. Most Post Offices are shut on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Concerns
Paying
car tax
Receiving benefits payments
Increased use of email means that
for many people the postal service is becoming obsolete
Increasing competition
From 1 January 2006, any licensed operator was able to deliver mail to business
and residential customers
Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further
information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.
This
article has been tagged since January 2007.
The Post Office has been affected by closures in the last few years. This has caused much anger in local communities because the residents are unable to benefit from the postal and banking services that the Post Office provides.
It also increases business costs, as once the local Post Office has closed, people may have to drive some distance (perhaps five miles) to reach a Post Office.
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