Sir,

It used to be called The General Post Office, and 'general' it was too, providing excellent service at branches everywhere apart from the very smallest hamlets.

Now it is called Post Office Limited. The word 'limited' describes it exactly, how it is about to become. Across the UK 2,500 branches are about to be axed.

Providing a service used to be the primary objective. It isn't now. Making a profit is the primary objective. The fat cats win. But we lose far more.

Profit it may be, but only for a few. For the rest of us it makes for a very great loss in many ways. Consider recent cuts in service.

Not very long ago we lost our Sunday post. And more recently we lost our breakfast-time deliveries. Deliveries are made nearer lunch-time nowadays. Why? And have you posted a parcel lately? Now this isn't funny! I nearly had to mortgage my house to pay the postage on a parcel recently. And now, to cap it all, we're going to lose our local post office. It is just another kick in the teeth. We're far too tolerant.

Village post offices are essential to villagers. Where else can villagers draw their money out? In my area we can't use the bus because it terminates in town, turns round and drives back almost immediately with very little standing time, a daft arrangement really because it allows no time for passengers to visit the town's post office, nor anywhere else come to that. Who's going to hang around for hours for the next bus home? I suppose some might welcome a good excuse to have a drink or three, but bang goes the money, the sole purpose of the journey in the first place.

So we all go by car, probably costing us more in time and money than the savings made by the fat cats closing our local branch. And this leads to another thing to ponder over, if I might change the subject for a moment. To give reasonable time in the town for passengers to complete their shopping etc, wouldn't it be better for bus routes to be terminated in villages either side of towns rather than in the towns themselves, the buses' heading almost immediately straight back the way they have just come. Having the town midway along the bus route would be far more useful to passengers in halving their waiting time in the town for the return journey. The bus company would gain too by the elimination of standing time. Think about it. Let us return to post office closures. The Government has decided . . . the leaflet tells us . . . The Government sits in London, plenty of post offices (and buses) there. It is a pity the Government doesn't sit in a place like Tavernspite where the one-and-only post office is doomed to closure. There are probably more people in Tavernspite than there are in the Government. We need our rural post offices.

Don Bedford, Whitland.