By Tanya Steele
Outer East locals have taken to social media recently to express disappointment that the Knox City Post Shop will close at the end of this year.
The Westfield Knox in Wantirna will no longer be the site of a Post Shop and is due to close by 31 December, Australia Post cited declining patronage as part of the decision to close the store.
An Australia Post spokesperson said Australia Post has made the difficult decision to close the Knox City Centre Post Shop from 31 December this year.
“This decision follows a 32 per cent decline in customer visits over the past four years, along with the outlet’s history of significant financial losses,” they said.
“The existing PO Boxes will remain and there will be no change to the standard delivery of mail.”
The spokesperson said the surrounding area is well-serviced, with ten post outlets within a five-kilometre radius, including the Studfield Post Office located a kilometre away.
“All team members at Knox City Centre Post Shop will be offered roles in an alternate post office or other parts of our business,” they said.
According to Australia Post Office network change protocols effective from January 2023, Australia Post operates the nation’s largest physical retail outlet network.
The network includes both Australia Post-owned corporate outlets (CPOs), Licensed Post Offices (LPOs), and Community Postal Agencies (CPAs).
Australia Post has a community service obligation (CSO) to provide services that are ‘reasonably accessible to all people in Australia, wherever they reside or carry-on business’, including maintaining at least 4,000 postal outlets, including 2,500 in rural and remote areas of Australia.
The protocol said that Australia Post is committed to maintaining its performance standards of accessibility with 90 per cent of residences in a metropolitan area are located within 2.5 kilometres of a retail outlet and at least 85 per cent of residences in a non-metropolitan zone are within 7.5 kilometres of a retail outlet.
The community relies on Australia Post to deliver important services through their network, especially in rural and remote areas.
Community members wanting more information about the Post Office network, or who wish to provide feedback are encouraged to contact Australia Post.
