As far as I can tell, the issue is with Eurostar, who have only been operating one train per day each way London-Paris and vv and one per day London-Brussels and vv for the past several months, both of which have been pretty empty by all accounts. Most of their staff have been furloughed, or laid-off in some cases, and their trains have been mortgaged to a French bank. Eurotunnel, although their revenue has undoubtedly declined over the past year, seem to be still obtaining a reasonable amount of revenue from lorry shuttles and a lesser amount from through freight trains.
That's the case in some larger towns as well. I live in a town of 30,000+. Main post office closed about two years ago, with the counters moving into WH Smith further along the High Street. You now have the bizarre situation where a Royal Mail parcel is collected from the sorting office, part of the closed main post office. If the parcel is a Parcelforce/Post office parcel that has to be collected from the PO counter. It's as though the two are now completely separate firms. Argos closed at the start of the lockdown in 2020 and has re-opened in Sainsbury's - the café being sacrificed to provide the space. Despite talk of a Tesco store re-opening in town (it closed in the 1980's) that has never materialised; though we do have a couple of the convenience store type operations. And then to top it off the leader of the District Council bigs up how the town will prosper when an out of town 'designer shopping village' is opened. No, that is located right next to a major trunk road/town bypass! You'll just watch most shoppers miss the town as they travel to/from that location.
This is certainly the case in my local town. Royal Mail still have their premises on the same site as the old Crown Post Office (empty for years), but the Post Office has moved to a much smaller unit which is actually on one of the main shopping streets instead of being out on a limb. The telephone exchange building is also on the same plot.
This is too true. 15 years ago I worked for Barclays in a big city. We had four city centre branches (one mainly dealt with business customers, one mainly dealt with students and the other two dealt with anything and everything). We had another five suburban branches, a business focused branch on a business park, and a small branch in a shopping centre which didn't have a counter but had ATMs and a member of staff to deal with enquiries. And this was what was left after an extensive branch closure programme.
My local branch closed a couple of years ago. I went into the branch at least twice a week on various days and at various times, and there was always a queue of at least 3 people whenever I was in there. When they sent me a letter announcing the closure, it mentioned that they'd completed a study of the bank's users and found that there were only 16 visits to the branch per week, and therefore they couldn't accept the costs of keeping the branch open. If that was the case, I must have been very unlucky to always have to queue!
Alternatively, they were telling whoppers.
Or the post office.
Perhaps 'stretching the truth'*. When I have visited a bank, quite a few customers carry out multiple transactions, perhaps some. even most could be carried out by alternative means but there are one or two which can't, or the customer doesn't want to. be done using alternatives. A customer with hearing difficulties not confident with phone banking, for instance.
You're obviously a kinder man than me.
My town is luckier than most in having retained all the major bank branches, plus Nationwide and Halifax, though there's a feeling (a very strong one in my case!)that one closing will start a domino effect. HSBC and Santander have been my candidates for the initial chop, and that was before both groups announced they'd be closing a number of branches. NatWest is my bank and all the staff address me by name (I will resist interest banking so long as it's feasible, just as I will keep my non-contactless debit card so long as they're issued).Occasionally I'm greeted by ex-bank staff in town who remember my name too, some from up to thirty years ago, like an ex-Manager who retired early!Morecambe central is still the same with Post office counters in the front and the sorting office at the back. Same building that's been there at least 50 years (I remember it as a child).
Hebden Bridge still has its 1930s post office in use - with attached sorting office.
Kinder - no, more worried about a missive from Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne. I suspect they can justify claims because they are careful with words. For instance, I looked at one of the 'with deep regret'* leaflets for a branch Santander are closing - '38% also use an additional Santander branch': I suspect that means have used one occasionally, maybe even just once. I do that, when I've been visiting nearby towns for leisure, I sometimes pay in a cheque, pay a bill, submit a DD request because I happen to be there and saves me making a trip locally, doesn't mean I want to do it on a regular basis. They are, at least, honest in that they give the percentage of those who actually use alternative methods of banking - some others just give the percentage of customers who use the branch and are registered for Online Banking and/or Telephone Banking. Maybe they've tried it and not been able to get on with it, maybe they have just been registered because they haven't ticked a box when they signed up for something. Some list the nearest alternative branches, giving distance, but failing to give how long it would take by public transport - even then it may take most of the day because of the timetables. There are statements like 'nearby branches', I have found over 15 miles without much effort but it is a vague term so they would probably get away with it. There is selective use of time periods when showing drops in usage (they will have a field day once lockdowns finish). Some don't adequately explain what cannot be carried out at a Post Office ('everyday banking' - vague term).You're obviously a kinder man than me.
You are right.
While at my local NatWest just pre-Covid to arrange the transfer of a pittance from one account to another to avoid an overdraft, they were doing a hard sell on banking online instead. Just as my business had been concluded all their systems went down (to the embarassment of the poor clerk doing the P.R. job) and were down for a day, nationwide, on all NatWest online banking. At least the staff there no longer waste their breath, and my time, by trying to convince me. I know one day, should I live that long, my preferences will count for nothing.
The larger discount booksellers (such as the Works) are no longer reliant on remaindered stock. They often order dedicated publishing runs (typically printed in the far-East), by agreement with the actual publisher.
When I was buying my house, I had to go into the branch to transfer the deposit to the solicitors, because the amount was over the limit for online banking.
I have an online banking app, you just simply take a picture of the cheque to cash it in.
That's one key detail that banking apps do, where regular online banking won't cut it. It seems the banks are more trusting of integrated cameras that Android/IOS give them direct control over activating.
