The postal company has decided on the closure of five post offices in Ashkelon: 21 City of Work Agency, Shikon Darom, Neve Hadrim, Nafti Center and Lev Ashkelon Post Office.
We contacted the spokespersons of the postal company and this is their response: We are reducing branches all over the country, as part of the government’s postal reform. The post office almost went bankrupt, and now, after a financing agreement and a collective agreement was signed that includes the layoffs of over 1,000 employees, the implementation phase of the post office’s recovery and development plan for the current era begins. As part of this, digital and ‘home delivery’ services have been expanded, Post Bank customers can use a direct card to pay at the cash desk in businesses and on the Internet and to withdraw money from any ATM, and packages can now be collected from hundreds of small businesses. So today you no longer need to go to the branch for most postal services. There are other services in a very wide spread of small businesses from which packages can be collected near the house. Regarding allowances – you don’t need to come to the branch. The money is deposited directly into the account, and with a direct card – it is already in the wallet. You can pay with the card at any cash register, and you can also withdraw cash from any ATM. For the exceptional cases where you need a branch once in a while, there are still branches that you can reach, there are call centers (both for the post office and for the companies that pay them) that you can pay with a Direct card. It’s always less comfortable when you move a branch away, but there are still more post offices than the number of branches of the two big banks combined.’