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Mystery closure of Stone post office

Stone post office was closed today, with a sign in the window stating: “Closed until further notice due to unforeseen circumstances.”

The High Street branch is the only Post Office site in Stone Town following the closure of the Walton site a couple of years ago. There are post offices in Barlaston, Synnerton and Tittensor.

The High Street branch is also a Costcutter store after it was taken over by new owners last year.

A Post Office spokesman confirmed today that the owners had confirmed them of the closure because of unforeseen circumstances.

A Post Office representative will now be contacting the owners on Monday to get further updates.

A Post Office Ltd spokesman apologised for the inconvenience, but did not explain the reasons behind the closure.

He said: “Due to circumstances beyond our control we have had no option but to suspend our service at Stone. We are discussing the situation with the relevant parties as a matter of urgency.

“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this temporary closure will cause. We are doing everything possible to restore services as soon as possible.”

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  • J. Logan

    I turned up at the Stone post office this morning Friday 1st July to tax my car to find the notice on the door about the closure. The notice also advised that car taxing could be done at Stafford, Eccleshall and Stoke, not Tittensor or Barlaston so I had to go to Stafford where the staff advised me that they knew Stone PO was closed on Thursday 30th June but not why. If that was the case then why is the PO rep waiting until Monday 4th to investgate? Since the closure of Walton, Stone has had only one post office. Now this has closed without warning what do people do about posting larger items if they don’t have a car? How do we purchase non 1st or 2nd class stamps? What about pensions? This is a ridiculous situation which should have been envisaged by the Post Office when awarding franchises so there would be a fallback position available within 24 hours. Immediate answers from PO rep are needed NOW please.

    • http://www.alittlebitofstone.com Jamie Summerfield

      Great comment – thanks for posting

      • http://www.happyweigh.vpweb.co.uk Happy Weigh

        I vote for Libby Coulson as the next Post Mistress please. She’d sort it all out and keep the service running like a clock!

        Sending our hugs and warmest wishes to all the staff who are strugglng more than the rest of us over this terrible situation. xxx

    • Kerry

      Hear hear! I have a couple of slings I needed to post today, only to turn up to a closed PO. I didn’t have time to go to Stafford. Luckily the new owners of my baby slings are very understanding and are OK for them to be posted on Monday at a different branch. I hope they get this sorted out soon. A town like Stone needs a post office!

    • Lisa

      well said. I agree with everything you posted. There should be a backup arrangement in place.

  • Chris

    I have started using the barlaston one. The waiting time in the stone branch is crazy sometimes.

  • jill wood

    great comments what is going on?

  • http://none jill wood

    great comments what is going on ?

  • Nick Tucker

    Know you need a car to get there, but I always get superb service (without the queues) at Yarnfield.

  • Jonty Beard

    The point about being able to use Yarnfield or Barlaston is pointless. If someone uses the post office to receive their money such as pension or DLA then the nearest post office could be on Jupiter for all the good it would do some people. I’m thinking of those people who don’t drive and may be disabled or elderly. 
    We’ve already lost the Job Centre which was an outrage since they didn’t implement any kind of plan to allow people in Stone to sign on without travelling to Stafford, even though that costs a fiver each time, which they wont reimburse.
    I dont mean to point fingers but new owners one year ago and now it closes without any warning? Very suspicious if you ask me. I’d be checking where they are right now.

  • Nick Tucker

    The whole sorry story is proof, not that any is required, that vital public services should NEVER be in private hands!

  • Nick Tucker

    PS It did occur to me on the day before the place closed, when I was in there – ‘Why is stationery being displayed in a fridge?’ ;-)

  • J.Logan

    I have just e-mailed Bill Cash about this problem. Let’s hope he mobilises his resources immediately. I have suggested to him that BBC Midlands Today and Central News should also be urged to investigate the mattr tomorrow Tues 5th. This is a totaly ridiculous situation. Thanks to all who have responded to the original post and .fuelled the debate.

    • http://www.alittlebitofstone.com Jamie Summerfield

      Hi there. Keep me posted on any response from Bill Cash :)

  • Maggie

    I think it is very sad that this has happened but no-one is giving any thought to the poor people who took this business on in nov 2010 & for whatever reason now find it necessary to take the action that they have.  Jonty Beard your comments are most out of order when the full facts are not known. I am quite sure that the money invested in buying this business and for the re-fit would have been a huge amount and perhaps what looked like a good business opportunity proved to be less of an attraction in reality. The post office has been in private hands since the very early 90′s but then there was much more customer loyalty and not the same internet options to do transactions such a car tax so therefore the business was more profitable and therefore more secure. Comments about using other smaller also privately owned post office is exactly what I mean about customer loyalty.  The comment about the queueing times also, if there were no queries in an office of this size then it would have been closed long ago.  It is an annoyance that it is closed at the moment but spare athought for how the postmaster and his family are feeling, whatever they are having to deal wit. am sure the decisions will mot haver been taken lightly. When it re- opens, aI am sure it will then place use it to keep it in your town.

  • http://www.thesmoothingiron.co.uk Gill Knight

    I’m sure that the owners aren’t happy to close. The refit would have been expensive. But didn’t he do his homework??? Stone didn’t need another grocery store. Co-op over the road, Morrison’s to the rear – both with parking. Aldi being built. Anyone taking up a new business needed to sort out the market they were selling too and see if it was viable. The loss of the Post Office is catastrophic. Yes we have all stood in queues there – just showing that we need this facility. How many people bring sacks full of parcels in for posting from home or office based businesses???? The facilities at the post office are too many to mention, most of them utilised every day i would imagine. But it is the shop side of the business which would pay for the rent and overheads of the business, plus staff etc. Queuing at that part of the shop was unheard of – i imagine it never made a profit. The owners will have been left with no choice but to cut their losses. Sad for them, i’m sure it was not their intention. The High Street needs a Post Office – and SOON!

  • Maggie

    I completely agree with the cost cutter being the wrong thing to put in the shop side, totally the wrong choice for a High Street post office. I am sure the post office will re-open again maybe in another premises but it needs to be used and
    I am sure that the people who are showing concern on this forum do use and support the post office, but it isn’t as busy as it was. ‘ The post office ‘ as the organisation and the government must take responsibility for post offices struggling as they have withdrawn many everyday services from the counters and even offer better deals on some of their own products by using the  website!! Anyway whatever the reasons for it not being open at the moment spare a moments thought everyone for the staff, some of them having been there for many years, hopefully they will be re-employed  when it does re-open as experienced staff make things easier too. 

  • Caz Bailey

    I’m sure that there was originally supposed to be a Post Office in the Aldi store. Did that materialise, does anybody know?

  • http://www.thesmoothingiron.co.uk Gill Knight

    I have been using the post office as by business bank for over a decade. Many others who use the smaller banks use the Post office for this facility. Co-op Bank, Alliance & Leicester to name the few i can remember. If i don’t use the POST Office then to pay in cheques i am charged 20p each. With my business we still get cheque payments. To avoid these costs i have had to drive a 12mile round trip this morning to the lovely Wendy at Tittensor Post Office. She is always a delightful lady to deal with, and thankfully for the stone pensioners/non drivers she is directly on the bus route.
    BUT i don’t want to take my business outside Stone and nor should i have too. When i made bankings i would always do other jobs in the High Street. If i am forced to go else where to Bank i will have to make good use of my time and shop there.
    The long serving staff at the Post Office have my deepest sympathies – in fact it was Libby who told me that it was closed.They don’t deserve to be let down either. The return of a post office to Stone soon is essential.

  • http://www.alittlebitofstone.com Jamie Summerfield

    Thank you for all your comments about the closure of the post office. You’ve made some brilliant points. Let’s hope something is sorted as soon as possible

    • Jan Baker

      i work in the high street and had so many comments about it closing, some people needed it to tax cars and as it was late afternoon they were technically driving illegaly. I said Stafford was probably the nearest. Whats going on Post Offices were our institutions that everybody used
      Sad days

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  • jill wood

    HI Caz Bailey.
    no there is no post office in the new Aldi sadly.
    Have just had e mail stating that Age concern office are available for assistance tuesday and thursday all day and Mon,Wed,Fri from 10 until 12.30 for anyone who needs to pay their bills etc by phone or on line whilst the post office is closed,this surely will help people.

  • Maggie

    I really hope that this temporary closure will not make even more customers use the banks for pensions and benefits and the internet for car tax, currency and other transactions although I image it will as people need to carry on and if there is no firm arrangement for it reopening alternative arrangements need to be made I suppose.  I just hope that it stays in the town where it the trade but costs are so high in stone. It really is time that the rates and also rents (although  I believe it is a private landlord) were looked at. The old Victoria Wines has been empty for years and that could be the demise of the building where the po is. Charity shops don’t pay full rates – so I believe so could there not be a concessionary rate for this public service business? Perhaps an existing long established business could look at having the po counter in their shop, not a supermarket, somewhere like Home & Colour maybe?

  • Richard

    I am sure if the top brass at the Post Office gave a damn they could easily sort out getting ours back up and running as just a post office and nothing more, even temporarily. But of course it comes down to one word…profit! I will add, I feel sorry for the current owners…with the extortionate cost of living in this country, they had everything against them.

  • Mike McEwen

    Two years ago the Walton Post Office was closed despite appeals to Mr Cash, the Tory MP for the area. To get him involved with the closure of the Stone branch is a complete waste of time, he must be enjoying the fact that the great inconvenience caused by this closure is yet another step towards the privatisation of Royal Mail. Get ready for higher prises, remember, British Gas, BT, Severn Trent etc, etc, all screwing the public in the name of ever increasing profits to keep the shareholders happy. I write this on the day that British Gas has increased prices by 18%

  • Jenny

    I’m in a position I’d like to start or run my own business.  But taking on something like the Post Office is so risky.  It’s a shame there isn’t more financial help to keep such valuable assets in our town.

  • Richard

    Has Bill made any comments on this or, as usual, are we up the creek without a paddle?

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