District post offices close weekend doors
CNS): Shopping for stamps or any other mail related services will be a thing of the past at some district post offices as of next weekend when they, like the eastern district offices, discontinue the Saturday morning services. Offices in Hell and Bodden Town, which once offered a weekend service, will cease to do so from 15 February. The North Side and East End post offices have been closed on Saturdays for some time and officials said that this is now a permanent decision. However, Savannah, Airport, General, Seven Mile Beach and West Bay and post offices on the Sister Islands will retain their Saturday service.
This decision comes after the issue was raised by North Side MLA Ezzard Miller in Finance Committee when the 2013/14 budget was being considered. Miller recognized it as an ineffective operation of the postal service after a financial review was performed on Grand Cayman facilities to determine the revenue collected on a Saturday.
The review found that for the last five years CIPS collected less than 3% of its revenue on Saturdays. Even when value-added services, such as utility bill payments, were included, less than 5 percent of revenue was collected on Saturdays.
Postmaster General Sheena Glasgow said that it is increasingly difficult to justify keeping the post offices in North Side, Hell, East End and Bodden Town open on a Saturday when these facilities collect less than 1 per cent of their annual revenue on that day.
“This was a collaborative effort with North Side MLA Ezzard Miller,” she said. “He raised the issue because he recognized that it is very costly for the Postal Service to conduct Saturday business. This is particularly true for the district postal facilities that have smaller business volumes,” she said. “Continuing to keep district post offices open on Saturdays has also been challenging for management as the number of postal staff has reduced significantly since 2008 and staff have never been paid overtime for their Saturday hours since the hours resumed in 2008,” Glasgow added.
“I would venture to say that few private sector companies, if any, would continue to stay open for Saturday business year after year while earning less than 1% of their annual revenue on that day,” the post office boss stated.
Glasgow explained that the by way of compromise, some of the larger postal facilities will still be operational on Saturdays.
Category: Local News
Are the post office employees on salaries? Are we paying the same for less service? The idea is to cut costs while maintaining quality of service, not the other way around. Anyone who knows the answer to these questions please post,
Also, on a slightly less serious note – how is this going to impact our postal service medal contention this year? Juju?
They have to be salaried. If they were paid on productivity, they would be broke.
They are probably salaried, but, by cutting hours you either cut shifts/staff or overtime, i.e., its doubtful anyone is going from 6 days salary to 6-for-working-five; more likely going from five days salary + extra to five days salary. Or they cut a couple of posts that rotated between offices, thereby reducing headcount. (Or just bringing their workload back in line with headcount, see option 1.) So it will be a blow to the staff no longer earnign Saturday pay, but an ovrall savings.
And I like the second question. 🙂
How will anyone be able to tell?
Service will be a lot better 12.42. You will know exactly where you stand at once, rather than wondering if you are ever going to get served..or getting glared at for interrupting a colleague conversation about husbands/boyfriends/both/girlfriends or the best recipe for turtle stew..Its a brilliant stroke, nothing to be criticised if no one is there…
Seriously? The outer districts closed on Saturdays? Close one half day during the week and open Saturdays when the working residents of that district are actually in the district. This is like the community libraries. Both are public services but being run to bankers hours.
12:09, common sense does not exist with some.
Though I woudl normally agree with your assumption, judging by the usage statistics reported people aen't actually using them on Saturdays. So why close a day thats used more to keep the least performing day open?
Well, you see the districts that now must be closed are the districts that have OMOV, so much for that kind of representation . Now tell me wouldn't it be better to say extend the hours say two hours Thursdays and Fridays for example to allow people who work all week tpmpick up theiir mail after work. Seems to me that the supposedly cost cutting exercise would not be largely affected if this was done; but then again bobo we progressive ya know.
QQIf the head of the GPO hasn't been constructive in improving the services of the Post offices, which is obvious, what else can be expected? Not even mailing supplies are available in these enlightened times. Poor operator.
You did note in the article that the closure was institgated by the single-member-representative? Because the opening wasn't cost efficeint for his community?
Just when you thought the joke that was the local postal service could not get any worse.
close the Brac ones as well.
There is no need whatsoever for the post offices n cayman Brac to be open on the weekend. This is a waste of time and money.
3 post offices on the Brac! What sort of welfare system is that called?
We could save a lot of money by closing down the Brac. Completely.
Stop eating all of that nasty turtle meat and smoking bad weed, The Brac bashing won't make you any smarter.
It is past time that the Postal Service utilise stamp machines. These could be sited at various locations PO's and hotels, etc.) and accept only card based transactions (no cash). These machines dispense books of stamps the value of which is usually a little less than is charged. The convenience would be worth it. PO's would need less counter staff who could be used elsewhere to speed up the processing & distribution or simply not replaced as the leave. It is time to move away from labour intensive procedures.
Great idea, however we are a long way from that I think. Look at Airport Post Office, you drop your mail through a cut out hole into a laundry basket – very High Tech!!
The district post offices like many other money losing civil service services CANNOT even break even. Even during the week, they are totally deserted and inactive. Like the Fire Dept – nothing to do most of the time.
I suggest that a society would wish its fire department to be inactive 100% of the time. Not really the best comparison you could have picked.
No, it's simple. Cut the fire service by 50% and take on 50% volunteers. Use 25% of the savings to pay any overtime, if any, and 25% is still saved at minimum.
As for the post office, privatise it and charge an operating license producing a small revenue rather than using it as a social service for the terminally inept.
After this, start looking at the port, CAL and that other money pit, the turtle farce.
Because no one is going to pay you to run a service. You could privatise the postal service but the rate for most people (who use it very little) would go up. There is a social cost to maitnianing a 'utility service'. Do we want to price people out of beign able to access the postal service?
Of coruse, this depends on how improtant you think postal service is. Poorer people tend to think its more important than people with better computer access.
Voluntary service in any position, including fire service, could be tied in to PR applications and give extra points for community service.