Blarney Post Office ‘is going nowhere’ assures postmaster

THE new postmaster who took over Blarney Post Office in recent months has moved to allay lingering concerns surrounding the Post Office’s future saying the amenity is “going nowhere”.

Daniel Lehane, a Blarney local, was appointed as the new postmaster at the end of May this year.

Postmasters are independent business owners contracted by An Post to run post offices.

Mr Lehane’s successful application to run Blarney Post Office followed a high-profile recruitment campaign, during which some concerns had been expressed about the future of the branch if a new postmaster could not be secured.

However, a spokesperson for An Post told The Echo at the time that it remained “totally committed to maintaining a post office for the people of Blarney”.

The spokesperson said An Post had advertised the contract for Blarney Post Office twice but had received “no takers”, and had advertised the position again for a third time, with a closing date of May 12 for receipt of applications.

Several months on, Mr Lehane said some customers still ask about the future of the branch.

“We still have customers coming in asking when it’s closing, but we’re not,” he told The Echo.

“An Post never wanted to close it, they just needed to get someone else in here [to take over as postmaster]. In the end, there were five interested parties and there were three applications went in and I happened to get it.

“It...won’t [close] as long as people keep coming into us, and as long as I’m here, it won’t be. It’s going nowhere,” he said.

Mr Lehane said he decided to take the plunge and apply for the postmaster position as he was intrigued by the challenge of running a business.

“I worked abroad for a couple of years and family is what brought me back. When I came back then I was working in a couple of companies and then this opportunity came up and I thought to myself ‘Will I? Won’t I?’ and then I said ‘Yeah, I’ll go for it’.

“That was it pretty much. I just said I’ll run my own business and see how it goes and luckily, it’s going really well,” he said.

Mr Lehane said his favourite aspect of the job is its diverse nature.

“The best part of the job is just not knowing what’s coming in. You just don’t know who’s going to be doing what because there’s such a variety [of services].

“In the post offices, there are over 600 different things you can put through the system.

“Every customer is different — of course, you do get a lot of people doing the same things, posting letters, collecting social welfare payments — but then there are all of the other things that get thrown into the mix.”

Mr Lehane has also put a focus on a separate retail offering at the post office, which sells energy drinks and other “bits and bobs” such as stationary, greeting cards and sports accessories.

“The post offices offer An Post services among others, but part of a post office as well is you can have your own separate retail in there too, you can run something else alongside it,” Mr Lehane explained.

“I’m a postmaster with An Post but then I’ve got my own retail which goes hand in hand with it.

“We’re expanding, we’re offering more. It’s not a convenience store, we’re not the corner shop but, with the convenience of our location, we’re looking at what’s missing in the area and offering that.

“The post office is here for the community and the thing is there is a generation who will always use it and now there’s a younger generation we see who are starting to use it and it’s a case that if they’re coming in what else can we have there for them.”