Post cut anger

By Dion Teasdale
HEALESVILLE Walk Shopping Centre traders are calling on the community to join their fight to have the Australia Post outlet in the centre reopened on Saturday mornings.
The call comes after Australia Post announced last week that it would terminate Saturday morning trading at the shopping centre outlet, effective from Saturday, 7 January.
Australia Post commercial manager Peter Lavis said the postal authority made the decision to cut back trading hours after monitoring patronage over a three month trial period late last year.
“Despite the busy pre-Christmas season and a petition from the community, customer traffic has not improved and the outlet is not commercially viable for Saturday trading,” he said.
Mr Lavis said the Healesville Main Street Post Office, a licensed agency located in the town’s newsagency, would be the sole provider of weekend postal services in Healesville.
However, shopping centre traders and community members have been outraged by the service cutback and are vowing to fight to have the post office reopened.
They say the closure will have a negative effect on surrounding businesses and inconvenience shoppers, and are concerned there may be further service cutbacks to come.
Sanctuary Lotto proprietor Graeme Williams described the decision as ‘rubbish’, and accused Australia Post of breaching its contract with the Healesville community.
“Six or seven years ago Australia Post relocated the post office from the centre of town to the shopping centre against the community’s wishes and promised it would be an improvement,” he said.
“Now they are going back on their word.
“They said this would be the town’s main post office and after forcing us to accept and support it they are gradually shutting it down. I think they have cheated us.”
Butcher Len Chandler from Terry’s Meats said he was angered and disappointed by the decision.
“This just goes to show that Australia Post should never have insisted that the post office be moved from its original site in the centre of town,” he said.
“I’m now concerned that they’ll cut the service back further.
“What’s to stop them saying they aren’t making enough money on other days and shutting their doors then?”
L.J. Hooker director Jim Raistrick, whose office is next door to the post office, said the community was not happy with the service cutback.
“We have already had a very irate man come in and ask us why the post office was closed and people have told us they are very disappointed by the decision,” he said.
Healthsense Pharmacy owner George Kakafikas described the service cutback as a joke.
“The other businesses in the shopping centre are committed to providing service on Saturday mornings and they should do they same,” he said.
Mr Williams said he and other traders, who last year collected 700 signatures on a petition calling for the post office to remain open, were determined to take the fight further.
“We’d like other businesses and community members who want to see the service reopened to contact us and show their support,” he said.
“We don’t believe this is fair and welcome suggestions for how we can work together to try and get the service back.”
Businesses that are supporting Mr Williams’s call for action include Video Ezy, Healthsense Pharmacy, L.J. Hooker Real Estate, Andromaches Pizza and Pasta, Healesville Walk Charcoal Chicken, and the Sanctuary Stove Bakehouse.
A spokeswoman from Australia Post said the postal authority had no plans to make further service cutbacks in Healesville and was bound by its charter to operate a cost effective postal service.