Rural post office owners forced to quit as money dries up

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A COUPLE running a much-loved rural post office say they are quitting the business after being left financially crippled.

Dianne and Johnston Bellshaw, who run the village post office in Munlochy on the Black Isle say they earn less than the minimum wage.

Even when they sell up, they are set to lose at least £35,000.

The news comes after The Sunday Post revealed 78 post office branches across Scotland had been closed “temporarily”, some for as long as five years.


When the Bellshaws pull out of the Munlochy branch, it will push that figure up to 79.

Post Office says the Bellshaws were given support to help turn their post office into a success story, but they were now “searching for a local person to take it on”.

Dianne said: “We bought the post office in June 2008. At that time it was a reasonable business proposition.

“But over the years, income has eroded. For our post office to have a future, it needs to be in a shop that is already making money.”

Their branch will be missed, with older folk who don’t drive having to take a four-mile bus ride for the nearest post office at Avoch.

Dianne said: “Pensioners, will be the ones that are hardest hit.”

She added how she felt other rural post offices would be forced into the same position as fewer people opt for a counter service in the digital age. She also said Post Office was offering some services cheaper online.

Post Office admits a better rate is available online for some foreign currency exchanges but said that it rewards branches who take part in a “click and collect” deal. Branches are also “rewarded” when they make referrals for a sale to the website.

The couple bought the building for £120,000 and say they could now end up taking £85,000.

Dianne, 46, and Johnston, 52, who both gave up jobs working at the Royal Bank of Scotland to take on the branch, say they earned around £20,000 in 2008 but that has fallen to around £10,000.

“No longer can our post office survive as a business on its own,” she said.

“We’ve put the place on the market.

“We have never had any time off, because we are self-employed and we have to pay someone to work when we go on holiday.

“Our income has dropped from £20,000 a year to £10,000 a year and we feel the Post Office has left us with something that is unsellable.

“I’m standing here earning less than minimum wage and we borrowed against our mortgage to buy our post office,” she said.

“When you are running a Government-backed business, that just feels wrong. Post Office is cutting income from post offices.

“The Government pays lip service to the idea of wanting to keep post offices open but the fact is that it is impossible to run one.”

A spokeswoman for Post Office said: “The Bellshaws will have purchased the business from the previous owners and we know that since that time they have sought to develop their business to attract more customers, including grant funding to open a café alongside the post office.

“They have been trying to sell the business and we have worked hard to help the Bellshaws find someone to take over Munlochy Post Office; the business has been advertised.

“We would be pleased to hear from anyone interested in running the post office in Munlochy.”