Our Post Office survey
Published: 22 January 2021
Following a suggestion by a local resident, Chineham Parish
Council conducted a short online survey via Survey Monkey into the local need
for Post Office provision in Chineham.
The survey ran from 14th October until 31st
December 2020. It was advertised via
social media – both in Chineham and Old Basing/Lychpit, in the Chineham Chat
magazine, via the Parish Council’s website and on the Parish Council’s
noticeboards which provided a QR code link for users’ mobile phones. There were 455 responses and the findings of the survey were shared with the Post Office, the owners of the Chineham Centre and Maria Miller MP.
There were nine questions which were split between demographic questions and those specific to Post Office use, plus an option to add comments.
From the demographic questions, 89% of respondents lived within 3km of the Chineham Centre (30% lived within 1km), we had responses from all age groups from under 18 to over 80 (68% of respondents were aged 41-70), 89% of respondents were personal users and 12% of respondents did not have access to a car to get to a Post Office.
We can also see that 75% of respondents used the Chineham Post Office more than once a month before it closed and respondents have used all of the other Post Offices in the local area since it closed, although the Post Office in Basingstoke town centre was used the most, followed by the Post Offices in Oakridge, Sherfield on Loddon and Shakespeare Road, Popley.
Responses to the two specific questions about Post Office services were as follows:-
Q. If a new Post Office was to open in Chineham which counter services would you use and how frequently (shown below as a % of total responses about each type of service
More than once a week
Cash services inc pensions (15%), purchase stamps, postage labels etc (18%), posting parcels, special delivery and signed for letters (23%), dropping off online/telephone shopping returns (13%), drop and go parcel services (13%), parcel collection (9%), paying bills and topping up (4%), lottery services (8%)
More than once a month
Cash services inc pensions (22%), purchase stamps, postage labels etc (53%), posting parcels, special delivery and signed for letters (53%), dropping off online/telephone shopping returns (37%), drop and go parcel services (29%), parcel collection (26%), paying bills and topping up (8%), travel services (8%), lottery services (13%)
Occasionally
Cash services inc pensions (31%), purchase stamps, postage labels etc (28%), posting parcels, special delivery and signed for letters (25%), dropping off online/telephone shopping returns (38%), drop and go parcel services (41%), parcel collection (49%), paying bills and topping up (19%), travel services (71%), vehicle tax renewals (41%), insurance (21%), lottery services (28%)
Never
Cash services inc pensions (33%), posting parcels, special delivery and signed for letters (23%), dropping off online/telephone shopping returns (11%), drop and go parcel services (17%), parcel collection (15%), paying bills and topping up (69%), travel services (20%), vehicle tax renewals (56%), insurance (77%), lottery services (52%)
Q. If the Post Office were to offer self service machines for postal services (stamps, labels, drop and go etc) at a location in the Chineham Centre, how likely would you be to use this service.
80% of respondents said they were either likely or very likely to use this service, 9% neither likely nor unlikely and 11% either unlikely or very unlikely.
Comments
Over 200 respondents took the opportunity to leave a comment, the vast majority of which were in support of reinstating a Post Office provision in Chineham. Read all of the comments here
See the results here.
The response from the External Affairs Manager for the Post Office is below:-
Thank you for your helpful feedback, which I’ve shared with colleagues who are currently seeking to restore a Post Office service to Chineham.
I appreciate that the Chineham community are concerned about the loss of their local branch and I’m very sorry for the inconvenience to our customers who are travelling further to access our services.
We want to restore a Post Office to Chineham, and my colleague has visited the local area to look for opportunities to open a branch, we are also advertising the opportunity on our website. Although we did have some interest after the branch initially closed, unfortunately, we don’t yet have an applicant for the service. However, if you are aware of any local retailers or business owners, who may be interested in running a Post Office from their business, then please do encourage them to register their interest with us on our website. Please also do feel free to share the website link below on your channels.
https://runapostoffice.co.uk/branch/chineham-post-office-basingstoke-rg24-8bq?search_term=RG24%204AB
I appreciate that our customers would welcome the return of a local service in Chineham and when we have a confirmed proposal for a new Post Office, we will of course update you.