Will PayPoint Get The Nod This Week?

POCA2 Announcement On Friday?

It would seem from the reports appearing in the UK press that we will hear who has won the government Benefits payment contract on Friday. There is the expectation, due to the long delay, that Post Office Ltd will not get the contract that runs from 2011.

This will clearly have a devastating effect on the future of the network that will hurt the profitability of the business long term. With the reduction in branch viability that will follow this decision we can expect thousands of branches to shut in an unmanaged manner.

So PayPoint retailerswhich upto now have delivered a bill payment service that is about taking money in to their stores will have to learn how to pay money out, safely. taking money in and keeping it safe is relatively simple as the cash can be quickly removed from the till and put out of harms way into a counter safe that no one can gain access to during trading hours.

The real trick about paying out money is having enough cash available on demand for claimants. The Post Office Card Account has a daily withdrawal limit of £600 so these retailers will need to put in place a system that will make that sort of cash instantly available.

An thats the snag, the less money available in the till lowers the risk of robbery. The more money increases the risk significantly. Earlier this year I took a look at robberies and other crimes and was shocked by some of these reports.

Post Office Ltd takes responsibility for its network and the people that work in it in many ways. Office design, methodology, training and all matters of security. If we follow the rules, we tay safe.

Will the contract with PayPoint, if they land it, ask for the same security standards for its network?

If it doesn't crime will certainly increase and will we as National and Local tax payers be expected to fund the investigations of the crimes?

If, as the papers seem to be suggesting the POL bid is more expensive, is because the POL security has to be paid for. If PayPoint dump the entire security issue on their retailers no wonder they can do it on the cheap.

And this aimless government still has 18 months left to destroy more of the fabric of our society!