Support Your Local Post Office

It's a strange phenomenon that when local shops and services don't get used and closure is planned huge campaigns get started to keep them open as they provide a "valuable service" for the community or are the "hub" around which the community gathers. Such hypocrisy must be hard to stomach for those small business owners and others who see a steady downward trend in their sales and footfall. 

Post Offices are particularly prone to this yet much of what they have traditionally offered can now be got elsewhere. To be fair the Royal Mail have responded in their own way by offering a far wider range of products than would have been seen even five years ago (a valuable lesson to many struggling retail businesses here). Backed up by an online presence that compliments rather than competes with its physical outlets means long term stability of sorts. 

This doesn't mean that Post Offices are safe for ever more. Nothing guarantees that. So the next time you need stamps, insurance or to pay a bill, use your local Post Office. If you don't it won't be too long before it closes for good. 

Avoid The Mall - Use Your Local Stores

Even when we have to shop at large stores or chains it's worth considering where we actually go to do our shopping. The temptation of going to large shopping malls may be too much for some people (although I can't for the life of me see why) but if there is a more local store to you why not go there instead? 

There are a few bonuses here that we often forget:

1. We use less fuel when we go to our local stores. 
2. We support local employment even if we are using locally based large retail chains and that generates some money in the local economy. 
3. We don't get tempted by any of the other large retail chains and eateries when we wander around a mall. If anything we might be tempted to drop into other local stores which can't be a bad thing can it?

So the next time you think it's a good idea to drive down to your local mall go to a local town instead and see what you can get there.