RURAL COMMUNITIES IN LINCOLNSHIRE
North & South Somercotes
The Post Office
The Post Office in the village opened in the 1850's to meet the demand for sending letters following the introduction of the universal penny post in January 1840 and that great Victorian revolution the Penny Black postage stamp introduced in May. Today, though mail is no longer delivered from the office, the handling of mail still forms a considerable part of our operation. Since 1850 the office has been located in at least five other locations, all of them in Keeling Street, before moving to the present one in 1949.
The village post office is an unusual organisation. People can have some unusual ideas about how we operate. Some think I am paid a large salary by the government, some think we are still the General Post Office and can arrange to have their telephone repaired and others think we still deliver their mail and can tell them where their postman is. Still others think there is no bank in the village. Some people also imagine they are helping us by not paying a bill at the office or posting a large parcel here. The reality is rather different.
In a sub-post office it's a two way process; I am paid on a "piece work" basis for each transaction I do and need the valued support of my customers, and hopefully they receive good service in return. I am self-employed but have to be vetted as trustworthy by the Post Office, be appointed by them and sign the Official Secrets Act. I have to provide and maintain suitable premises to meet changing customer demands. What was once the sorting office is now the counter part of the office and what was once the counter and serving area is now entirely devoted to customer needs.
The village post office is an unusual organisation. People can have some unusual ideas about how we operate. Some think I am paid a large salary by the government, some think we are still the General Post Office and can arrange to have their telephone repaired and others think we still deliver their mail and can tell them where their postman is. Still others think there is no bank in the village. Some people also imagine they are helping us by not paying a bill at the office or posting a large parcel here. The reality is rather different.
In a sub-
Sonia and I have enjoyed our time here. We meet and know most of the people in the village and many from the surrounding area. We have always maintained a strict policy of ensuring strict customer confidentiality. People can have confidence that they can deal with the most delicate of matters and be sure that their affairs remain on a one-to-one basis. The fact that I know and share many of my customer's triumphs and despairs makes my day more interesting when dealing with the day's transactions.
As most of you know, the range of things we deal with is many and varied. In recent years National Insurance stamps have ceased and family allowances have become monthly instead of weekly. However, to compensate for this we now do much more Girobank banking work, take Council Tax Payments for East Lindsey and supply foreign currency and travel insurance. Life is never dull in the Post Office as you can never be sure who will enter the office next and what they will want. There is also quite a large voluntary public service element to being a Subpostmaster. For example, I feel obliged to know where everywhere is in the area to direct callers - sometimes in an emergency; and people may need help completing forms, require advice or need a witness etc.. At any hour of the day we can receive telephone calls with queries, at times from the other side of the world.
What the future holds is anyone's guess. I would be surprised if there is not a Post Office in the village in a hundred years time. Some of the smaller village Post Offices have been forced to close because too many customers failed to do their business at the office - only to then realise what they have lost both in terms of the facilities available and in the reduction in their property value! Hopefully sufficient people here will continue to find the Post Office convenient for their needs. New services are continually being offered; the most recent being banking facilities for Lloyds/TSB customers and the availability of the different mobile telephone cards in addition to the BT phone cards we have sold for some years.
Like every other industry, computers are having a greater influence on the way we do business. We have used a computer to do the "back room" accounting since 1995 and last year the first Post Office machine with a direct link was installed to accept cards and read bar codes for bill payments. Soon a lot more computer equipment will be installed and many transactions will be processed at the counter. Money and bill payments may change in their shape and form but they will still exist and need to be processed. Communications will also be very different but people will still want the personal joy of a letter or card.
However much computers may change things there will still be a need for the checking of documents for one purpose or another by a trained eye. I also feel that a visit to the Post Office is more than just a bit of paper, you often meet your friends and it helps to maintain a community spirit in the village. Youngsters learn the way of the world and how to behave with others and for some older people their visit can be the highlight of their week, perhaps the only occasion they talk to someone else.
However much computers may change things there will still be a need for the checking of documents for one purpose or another by a trained eye. I also feel that a visit to the Post Office is more than just a bit of paper, you often meet your friends and it helps to maintain a community spirit in the village. Youngsters learn the way of the world and how to behave with others and for some older people their visit can be the highlight of their week, perhaps the only occasion they talk to someone else.
So thanks for your support in the last millennium and we look forward to the next. North Somercotes is a good place to live, let us all make the most of it.
Andrew Reynolds.
Andrew Reynolds.