Why Santa Claus might not be coming to Audlem

It is soon the season to be (even more) jolly, when we are thinking particularly of loved ones near and far.

Whilst it's easy to 'get a price' from the Royal Mail website for posting gifts and cards to loved ones this season, having in recent months lost our village post office Audlem Parish Council wanted to ask whether we can ever put a price on the real value of our rural post office?

McDonaldization

The alternatives to Audlem post office including Nantwich and Whitchurch provide evidence that Post Office counters all around the country are being refurbished into uniform spaces reminiscent of the McDonaldization of society. 'McDonaldization' is a sociological term which in its most basic form refers to a process of rationalisation where tasks (such as conducting post office business) are broken down into smaller and smaller parts to find the single most efficient method for carrying them out. The result being higher online delivery of postal services with other ways of working being deemed ineffective and thus obsolete. McDonaldization as a process is underpinned by the core values of predictability where all processes are controllable, and calculability where 'good' performance can be measured. Under this paradigm a worker's speed of delivery and quantity of work is equated to quality. Essentially the idea that you can visit McDonalds anywhere in the world and be assured of your Big Mac experience confirms this very eponym.

So what's the problem with this as we all like consistent efficiency right? Unfortunately the unintended effect of over rationalising a system is irrationality which denies human reason & which includes consequences that were neither predicted nor desired.

Community contact

So in an era where climate change is lamented and obesity and ill health increase & the government calls for fewer car journeys to curb congestion, lower pollution and increase health benefits, the removal of the rural post office acts as an impediment to these benefits. In a time when families live increasing distances apart from each other and mental health issues have risen, in part as a result of people feeling disconnected, the removal of the rural post office reduces vital community contact further. Contrast the Audlem post office experience with customers (and Audlem postal staff) now having to drive to a nearby town, queuing and paying to park, becoming a nameless face waiting to be called up by an automated, computer generated voice. Need we say more'

As for the argument that many people do much of their communication and post office business online nowadays, there is still the thrill of packing and posting Christmas cards and gifts at the local post office. Last Christmas one of our Parish Councillors was at Audlem Post Office standing in line with fellow villagers. The queue to the counter was full of chatter of people who enjoyed each other's company and who were getting collectively ready for a village Christmas.

The damning view that the only remaining rural post office customers are from the 'older' community and are computer illiterate is both unfair and inaccurate. The daily use of computers and patronising the local post office are NOT mutually exclusive.

Audlem has a thriving online community via AudlemOnline and many of these internet users are highly vocal about the loss of our post office. In equal measure, for those customers who are less independent and lack access to transport and the internet, the post office is a lifeline.

Audlem High Street success

In addition Audlem's outstanding success in finishing in the top 5 in the village category of the Great British high street competition may not have been so without our post office.

Parliament has recognised Audlem's achievement with MP Antoinette Sandbach commenting that she is 'over the moon that Audlem has een recognised as a fantastic High Street, an amazing place to shop, do business and socialise'. However since the post office's closure, shops have anecdotally reported a significant reduction in foot fall and revenue, with an unintended consequence being the potential risk of losing other village shops too.

Audlem Parish Council is in regular communication with our MP in a bid to put increasing pressure on the Post Office to restore post office services within the village with immediate effect. We believe it's salient to restate the idea here that the premise of the remote, rationalised, efficient and measurable post office counter service turns out in fact, (a bit like Santa) to have mythical status from the perspective of a resident's economic, social and quality of life point of view. Our conclusion, the rural post office like the magic of Christmas, is priceless.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.