Wick's last post office set to close
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WICK will be without a post office next month due to the resignation of its postmaster.
The town's last post office, situated on Bridge Street, will cease to trade on October 30 with the nearest branch then being situated eight miles away in Watten.
Postmaster Younes Amin was unavailable for comment but a Post Office spokesperson confirmed the information saying: "Wick Post Office is due to close on 30 October due to the resignation of the postmaster.
“We understand how important a post office is to a community and we would like to reassure customers that we are working hard to try to maintain a post office service to Wick. The vacancy is advertised on www.runapostoffice.co.uk
“The nearest alternative full-time branch is at Watten. There is also a mobile post office service which visits nearby communities of Reiss, Thrumster and Keiss.”
Caithness civic leader Willie Mackay said: “It is with regret that I learn that the only post office in Wick is set to close at the end of October. Post offices have been a vital part of business life in towns and villages throughout the country, providing and offering necessary facilities for customers. "Among the many changes over the years have seen people having benefits and pensions paid directly into bank accounts rather than collect them at their local post office. Car tax for example can be renewed online or even by phone. At one time buying stamps used to be only from the post office but now there are lots of outlets.
"Postmaster Younes Amin has tried tirelessly to keep the business profitable which could not have been easy. This intending closure is of great concern and I intend to bring it to our agenda at the councillors joint ward business virtual meeting on Monday morning."
Wick and East Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner said: “Over the past three years it has been a battle to try and retain a post office in Wick.
"I take my hat off to those who have tried, on behalf of the community, to deliver this needed service. Yet again, a service that is vital to a rural area is being lost because of various economic factors.
"I can only hope the post office can revisit this decision and consider how better to support any business or individual that is willing to accommodate the service in their operation or on their premises without the conditions being so prohibitive."
Councillor Bremner added that running a post office is "often seen as an intensive job with little recognised contractual reward".
Commenting on social media, one local woman said it was "appalling" the town would be without a post office while Wick man Douglas Cowie said: "That's grim, what are we supposed to use then?".
Thomas Hicks said that "emails and texts have replaced old school mail anyway" but another countered the comment by slamming rural broadband speeds.
Wick woman Frances Purves said it was "awful" to have a "big town without a post office". She added: "Are pensioners expected to go to Watten on a bus, and they don’t run often. Hope someone starts a petition."
Another local woman, Jean McLennan, said: "The Post Office also serves Royal Bank customers who want to deposit cash. So there’s another part of the populace inconvenienced.
"It’s apparent the hassle that goes along with running a PO (staff, security, space, equipment etc) is not adequately remunerated. I imagine business people willing to take it on will be few and more likely non existent."
The town has struggled to maintain a service after the closure of the long-running branches on High Street and Smith Terrace. The post office branch within the Pulteney Centre in Wick closed last year after operating for just 14 months.
At the time of its closure in August 2019, new contracts imposed by Post Office Ltd – where greater responsibility is placed on an outlet to run as an independent financial concern – proved to be unworkable.
On its website Post Office Ltd say: "Post Offices are designated an essential service, staying open to provide a vital lifeline for banking services, collecting benefits, bill payments and to enable letters and parcels to be sent."
Pulteneytown post office to close
