Britain to ax 2,500 post offices

LONDON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- British authorities say village post offices are becoming a casualty of the Internet as more people go online to pay bills and use e-mail.

"Customer numbers have gone down about 4 million per week compared to a couple of years ago and the losses are rising," said Pat McFadden, the man named by the British government to pick 2,500 post offices for closure this year.

The British postal network loses about $7 million a week and hundreds of British post offices attract as few as 16 customers a week, on average, The Times of London reported Saturday.

Post offices in Britain, especially those in villages, continue to be used by large numbers of the elderly, who view the closures as a sign of disrespect toward them and fear their communities will change for the worse, the Times reported.

"No one comes into politics to do something that can be very unpopular locally to the people affected, and I am very aware of that," McFadden said. "But sometimes governments have to take difficult decisions and make difficult changes. This is one of those occasions."