Antarctica Post Office opens with locals frozen out

Australia Post has opened a post office branch in Antarctica, as reported by Reuters, while locally post offices in Woollahra, Glebe and Turramurra close.

Stamp ink that wouldn’t stick due to the cold was just one of the challenges facing the newest Australian post office branch in Antarctica, whilst residents across Sydney face the challenge of losing full post office facilities in their local area.

Up to 27 post offices Australia wide face closure. Turramurra closed January 28 while Woollahra and Glebe Post Offices closed last week with smaller alternative services to be made available.

Australia Post will provide smaller postal services through contracted local businesses in a bid to replace the closed post offices, as announced last week. However, passport and bill processing will not be available neither will the number of customer service staff nor will they be Australia Post staff.

From February 7, Queen Street Newsagency in Woollahra will provide some postal products and services, approximately 200 metres away from the original post office site. However a full Community Postal Agency, that could process bill payments in person by cheque, weighing, calculating postage and lodging mail, has not been found within Woollahra businesses as yet.

Queen Street and West Woollahra Association, president, Ken Gresham is disappointed that the Post Office will close and is not satisfied with the replacement service. “We’ve had a post office for 140 years and were only given five weeks notice of the closure. It’s rather disappointing, they are an independently operating entity owned by the citizens of Australia but the concept of maintaining services seems to have gone out the window,” said Gresham.

Australia Post executive Christine Corbett claims that the services were losing money and were unviable to keep open in their current form. “With Woollahra Post Office having sustained losses of $400,000 over the past three years, and projected to lose a further $160,000 this financial year, it was clear that continuing counter services via that site was not a financially viable option, but by moving services to a local store, we’ve achieved an outcome that meets everyone’s needs,” Corbett said.

A new Community Postal Agency will be established in Turramurra and Glebe with the ability to pay bills by cheque. From January 31 the service will be available at Blockbuster Video, Turramurra and from February 7 customers will be able to purchase stamps, Express Post products, satchels and basic packaging products at the Lucky 7 Convenience Store, Glebe, with further services to be made available in the future.