Why Close Broad Chalke Post Office In December 2006 the Post Office, backed by the Department of Trade and industry announced that 2500 to 3000 Post Offices would be closed, mainly in rural areas. Royal Mail have announced, that Broad Chalke Post Office, is one of the 36 Wiltshire post offices which has been flagged for closure. The consultation period runs until 31st January 2008. So why close Post Offices Well the situation is basically down to money. Royal Mail currently operate 14000 post offices throughout the UK, which is an expensive network to operate, and this network is not making money - it runs at a huge loss. This is seen as a problem for Royal Mail despite the fact that it is fully owned by the public, who essentially sustain its losses through the tax we pay. We can fully understand in some instances that certain post offices may have become unncessary BUT Royal Mail has axed 4000 post offices since 1999 (in 1999 there were 18000 post offices), and with further cuts they will essentially have HALVED the number by 2013. This is made more worrying by a statement made last December where Royal Mail claimed the network would be sustainable with just 5000 offices! Royal Mail is clearly streamlining itself, and the motivation for such changes rings true of pre-privatisation. Subsidies at government level are decreasing, services which post offices provide are being made more direct, soon we will receive later post, maybe less frequently and it\'s all in a bid to cut costs. Closing Broad Chalke Post Office, along with 36 others in Wiltshire is only the tip of the iceberg in how services are proposed to \'change for the better\'. FACTS Royal Mail Letters made 345m PROFIT in 2005/2006 Post Offices/Sub Post Offices made 111m LOSS in 2005/2006 Other group operations made 110m PROFIT in 2005/2006 OVERALL ROYAL MAIL GROUP MADE 355m PROFIT in 2005/2006 - See THEIR OWN STATEMENT HERE http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/news/article.aspid=1728&brand=royal_mail_group Their statement goes on to say that a bonus of nearly

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