Retailers are furious at trade union suggestions that smaller, non-Crown Post Offices are ill-equipped to explain Royal Mail's new Pricing in Proportion policy.
Communications Workers' Union national official Andy Furey made the claim as members agreed to strike over the decision to incorporate a number of Crown Offices in WH Smith stores. Crown Office staff in South-west Wales staged the first in a series of walkouts on Monday, September 4.
The reaction of David Standing, who runs Weston Post Office and Store in Hertfordshire, was typical. He told Convenience Store: "Mr Furey's comments annoyed me as most independent post offices are run by people who have invested their own time and money into their business and are determined to be professional.
"In most instances our customers have told us they prefer to use a small office rather than being grunted at in a Crown Office. The change to pricing in proportion isn't exactly rocket science and I think the comments are at best inaccurate and at worst untrue."