More than 500 responses to proposals published by Guernsey Post in July have persuaded the company to increase the number of boxes it will keep open to 59, all of which will have revised collection times from Monday.
Six of the 14 saved from closure are in St Peter Port, including at the Longstore and Ville au Roi. There are two in each of the Vale and St Peter’s, and one in each of the Castel, St Andrew, Torteval and St Sampson’s.
But more than 80 boxes will still close for good next week, which will reduce Guernsey Post’s costs by about £150,000 annually as part of an extensive efficiency plan to save £1m. a year.
‘When we originally earmarked 96 boxes for closure, we could have gone much deeper if we were taking a purely commercial viewpoint, but of course we don’t do that,’ said Guernsey Post chief executive Steve Sheridan.
‘We understand the importance of providing accessible services to the public.
‘We needed to strike a balance between maintaining an appropriate number of boxes and what works for the island community.
‘We were very open-minded about taking on as much of the public feedback as we could and reinstating as many boxes as we could without affecting that balance.’
Some parishes will lose proportionately many more of their postboxes than others.
Three-quarters of those in St Pierre du Bois will remain open, as will just over half of those in the Vale. But St Saviour’s will retain only two of its eight boxes and the number in St Sampson’s will reduce from 15 to four.
Only nine of the 540 consultation responses received by Guernsey Post expressed support for the original closure plan. More than 400 raised objections based either on the heritage of the postboxes proposed for closure, or the convenience of their location.
The company announced that all but one of the postboxes to be closed will remain physically in place, partly for heritage reasons.
‘We understand how important the blue Guernsey postbox is to our island’s heritage, and we are committed to preserving that legacy,’ said Mr Sheridan.
‘As part of this, we will be replacing the timed collection plates with plaques that share the historical stories behind selected boxes, such as the one at Fort Road, which we now know still bears visible damage from bullet holes during the Occupation.
‘These stories are an important part of our community’s history and we want to ensure they are not lost.’
The number of letters posted in Guernsey has declined by nearly 60% over the past 10 years, including a 15% drop between 2024 and 2025.
The trend away from communicating by letter is expected to continue and Guernsey Post said yesterday that it would remain ‘open to reacting as the industry changes’, but it all but ruled out further postbox closures in the next few years.
‘The decisions we are making today and implementing next week are certainly going to be decisions that will be fixed for a number of years. We are not expecting any revisiting of this decision anytime soon,’ said Mr Sheridan.
The 14 saved postboxes which will now remain open:
La Planque, Castel
Rue Fraires, St Andrew's
Choisi, top of the Grange, St Peter Port
Candie Cache, St Peter Port
Ville Au Roi, St Peter Port
Hauteville, St Peter Port
Rue de Putron, St Peter Port
Hougue Anthan, St Peter's
Les Sages, Torteval
La Rochelle Road, Vale
Bordeaux, Vale
Longstore, St Peter Port
Nocq Road, St Sampson's
Morrisons, St Peter's
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