Sorted: But collecting packages in Coulsdon just got that bit more difficult
In the latest blow to Coulsdon town centre, Royal Mail has decided to remove the evening collection facilities for letters and parcels that can’t be delivered.
Royal Mail says it has made the change “to keep pace with the changing behaviour of our customers”.
A notice of the revised opening hours was posted earlier this month, with just a few days’ notice of the shift in hours. From August 8, the office is open to the public only two hours most days (four hours on Saturdays!).
“This doesn’t help people who are at work all day,” one unimpressed Royal Mail customer told Inside Croydon.
Closing times: the Royal Mail notice in Coulsdon that went up earlier this month
Royal Mail is under increasing competition from private delivery firms including Amazon and Hermes, who use delivery banks at stations and garages that can be accessed 24 hours a day, or in deals with local shops, many of which are open from 7am until 11pm.
“Bit by bit, Coulsdon is being stripped of all sorts of public services, the kind of services which used to make it a place where people wanted to live and work.
“Royal Mail has suffered through poor management for decades, running down a once proud national institution. Are these opening hours in Coulsdon some kind of test of public opinion?
“It seems certain to shift more business into the hands of the private delivery firms.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson told Inside Croydon: “We understand the importance that some customers attach to Customer Service Points as one of a number of ways in which they can access our services.
“An increase in doorstep services such as Parcel Collect and Safeplace is helping us to enhance customer convenience and deliver more parcels first time. So to keep pace with the changing behaviour of our customers, we are amending the opening hours of CSPs at some locations, including reducing opening hours at the quiet times of the day in some cases.
“We have a range of options free-of-charge for customers who want to arrange for an item to be redelivered, which have become increasingly popular.”
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- By having a comment section, we provide all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Details of how this works can be read by clicking here
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
- Inside Croydon: 3.3million page views in 2021. Seen by 1.6million unique visitors in that 12-month period
