Community forced to find another branch as Spit Junction Post Office closes on October 16.

By ANNA USHER

After more than five decades of dedicated service, Spit Junction Post Office will close its doors for the last time on Wednesday, 16 October.

The closure marks the end of an era for residents who’ve come to rely on the essential local service to send parcels, pay bills and process passport applications.

In a statement released to Mosman Collective, an Australia Post spokesperson said the decision to shutter the store, which officially opened in 1971, had been “difficult”.

However, a new self-service hub, just 30 metres away on Spit Road, “will provide customers with 24/7 parcel lockers, Post Office Boxes and vending machine,” the spokesperson said.

Spit Junction’s post office currently lists more than 30 services including finance, insurance, identity and document assistance, meaning existing customers will soon be forced to use Mosman Village, Cremorne Junction or Big Bear, Neutral Bay postal shops.

“Those post offices are already over-flowing with people, and now they will have hundreds of extra customers from Spit Junction,” local Mary McCarthy told Mosman Collective.

“A lot of our elderly residents rely on the post office. These people have no transport and may be unable to walk to another branch. It seems very unfair.”

Information provided by Australia Post says customer visits to the Spit Junction outlet are “far below the state average and have fallen by 14% since 2022.”

“This is a well-serviced area, with the Mosman Post Shop less than a one-kilometre walk or drive away,” the spokesperson said.

Spit Junction customer visits are believed to be 40% below the state average, a far cry from half a century ago when the building was a new, bustling community hub.

Built in 1971 with dark metal fascias and a flat roof, the Spit Junction building was hailed as “sensitively designed”, with eight toughened glass telephone booths, a large mail sorting room, concrete walls, vinyl tiled floors and rear lane access for postal vans and trucks.

Records obtained by Mosman Collective show the 942sqm site was sold by the Australian Postal Corporation in July 2021 for $17.05 million to the Sun Property Group.

The site will be consolidated with an adjacent block and transformed into 34 luxury residential apartments with retail floor space.

All staff from the Australia Post shop in Spit Junction will be offered roles at nearby sites or closer to home.