Beating heart of the village...until we were abandoned by bosses: Husband and wife Post Office owners tell JANE FRYER how constant cuts to their commissions are making it hard to go on
Exactly four years ago, a brand new, specially- designed post office opened in the back of the Dandelion gift shop on the gorgeous honey-stoned high street of this Cotswolds town.
It was quite an event. There were clusters of red and white balloons above the door, windows festooned with bunting, and freshly-planted hanging baskets.
As sub-postmistress Tracy Churchill beamed with pride and Mark Annett, chairman of Cotswold District Council cut the official Post Office ribbon, cameras flashed and crowds cheered.
Sub-postmistress Tracy Churchill (left) with her husband Neil and Jackie Dyde outside the Post Office in Chipping Campden. Sitting on the step is Tracey's grandson Alfie
Tracy opened the business with her husband Neil four years ago but says it is now in danger of closing down. It was opened in the back of the Dandelion gift shop
Tracy and her husband Neil came to the rescue when the previous – salaried – postmistress retired and the post office, once a few doors down from their gift shop, and dating from 1841, closed.
They were persuaded of the benefits of running a small post office from their gift shop in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Tracy, 54, says: ‘It was not just because it was financially viable but because the community needed it.’
However, she and Neil, 59, both former care workers, now wish they’d never bothered. ‘It’s a huge, huge responsibility – particularly now the bank is only open three days a week, so we have more banking customers. Certainly, the job hasn’t been beneficial to our health or well-being,’ she says. ‘We had no idea what it would entail.’
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Tracy and Neil have been happy to spend hours on the phone to power providers, having volunteered to unravel customers’ bill discrepancies. They’ve kindly wrapped myriad packages for fumble-fingered customers and dished out hundreds of free dog biscuits. On occasion, they have called the police for vulnerable, distressed customers duped by fraudulent financial scammers.
Not for a minute have they resented the hundreds of hours spent on such community work – soothing loneliness, listening to pensioners’ chatter and admiring photos of their grandchildren, cats and dogs.
However the couple, who are former care workers, now wish they hadn't bothered taking over the local business
What they do mind is running at a loss for years while Post Office profits have increased. They’ve had no salary, no subsidies and have covered the cost of staff.
They and their paid staff are behind the counter 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9 until 1 on Saturdays. And, Tracy says, the Post Office ‘demanded’ they open all day Sunday. The couple refused.
Their only income – about £1,000 a month – comes from commission on individual transactions. They earn 3p per stamp sold, 17p each time a customer withdraws money and 50p for a cash deposit. But even that has been plundered by the phasing out of post office savings accounts. A few years ago, post offices got 40 per cent of their commission from benefit books – but no more. And in two years’ time, post office cards for pensions will be phased out.
In April, Jackie Dyde, 63, celebrated 30 years working at the Campden post office across its various locations. ‘There’s a lot more to it than selling a few stamps,’ she says. ‘I love it, but I feel the pressure – my head is a whirl after a busy morning.’
But she says Post Office bosses don’t seem to care. Tracy agrees, saying: ‘The number of times we’ve phoned up for help or suggestions but have found them not to be interested.’ For example – despite asking several times – they were not allowed to sell commemorative stamps, which would have sold well to tourists.
Their only income – about £1,000 a month – comes from commission on individual transactions. They earn 3p per stamp sold, 17p each time a customer withdraws money and 50p for a cash deposit. (Pictured) Postman Arthur Trainor in Chipping Campden
Tracy adds: ‘I know it sounds menial, but they don’t even supply items such as Sellotape, paper clips and elastic bands,’ she says. ‘We have to buy all those and we get through loads!’ Any error on the part of Tracy or her staff is pounced on by Post Office bosses who are swift to claw back any losses. But despite it all, the Churchills agonised for months over whether to give it all up. What would happen to their customers? Who would care for them?
‘People are going to suffer,’ says Tracy. ‘Lots of older people come in every week and we help them because we are a care service as well as a post office.’ She continues: ‘We are a social hub and our customers’ first port of call if they get a bill they’re panicking about, or a phone call that worries them.’
Tracy gets emotional when she tells of one man in his late 70s who comes in every week. ‘We sort every bill for him. He’s got no family. Who is going to help him? And hundreds like him will be left stranded in little towns and villages across England soon. That generation is not suddenly going to start internet banking when we’re gone.’ But the last few years have taken their toll, and they were left with no choice but to give up.
As of October 3, this exquisite town with its neatly-trimmed hedges and Union Jack flying at the war memorial, will be without a post office. It would be a disaster in most places, but here, doubly so. As Jackie puts it: ‘Campden doesn’t have any useful shops any more.’ The high street is full of gift shops and tea shops, but the electrician and haberdashery are long gone.
And the population is older than the national average. Mayor Michael Allchin, 70, says the town will be ‘devastated’ to lose the post office. But he adds: ‘No one blames Tracy and Neil. No one should be expected to subsidise their entire community.’ The Churchills initially tried to sell their gift shop with post office attached. Several couples were interested, but when they realised there was no salary for running the post office – and the scope of work involved – they pulled out.
So the only option was to carve the post office off, close it down and sell the shop separately. Mayor Allchin hints that a replacement, funded and run by the whole community, might be an option – if only Post Office bosses would reply to their messages. ‘I’m told it takes them nine days to acknowledge a query!’ he says.
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