“Do you see me running to Ambarès-et-Lagrave at my age?”. Like Nadine, 69, the inhabitants ofAmbes
are worried: their post office must close on December 31, which would require them to travel 15 km to buy a stamp. “I would have to ask my children to take me to Ambarès on Saturday”abounds Annette, a retiree who only moves on foot or by bike.
For denounce the scheduled closure of the post office, a collective called “Save the post office of Ambès” was formed and started a petition
. It counts to this day 142 members. One of them, Éric Charpentier, explains that “it’s going to become a dormitory town” if the public service disappears. “Ambès is a town at the end of the peninsula, where you live but where you don’t come for sightseeing or walking”and “There is already nothing left, practically no more stores. La Poste is the last bastion that would make people want to come and settle… Even that we would lose”regrets the one who is also responsible for the action group “Ambès Les Insoumis”.
“We did everything to weaken the service”
For its part, La Poste justifies the decision to close the office by too low a crowd: less than 30 people per day. “Of course, when it’s closed all the time, no one comes. Last time, I had to take the day off to pick up a registered letter”protests Antoine Vignaud, of the collective “Save the post of Ambès” and on the opposition list of Nupes. “We did everything to weaken the service”abounds Éric Charpentier.
As for the proposals made by La Poste to compensate for the closure of the office, they are not convincing either. The company proposes to keep the cash dispenser, to install a municipal agency – that is to say to give compensation to the town hall to train an agent in sending parcels and money – and to set up a relay at the municipal tobacconist. “Currently, keeping a business is difficult for everyone, when you see the energy prices. Are we really going to keep this tobacco for a long time?”, asks Loïc. The idea of setting up a municipal agency does not appeal to him either. “These are municipal employees who will deal with financial issues? And bank secrecy?”
Take the petition to the Assembly
The collective and some residents also denounce a lack of consultation on the subject from the mayor, Kevin Subrenat
. According to them, the elected official would have recorded the disappearance of the post office in February, and would not have announced it to his constituents until July.
“Let’s save the post office of Ambès” wishes now join forces with other municipalities whose post office is threatened with disappearance, including Lanton, and bring their petition to local elected officials and to the National Assembly, in November.