AS the shake-up in the benefits system cuts over-the-counter payments, post offices are suffering a big loss of business. Across Lancashire, 3,000 could shut.

Now, the County Council is calling for people to have a greater chance to object when their local post office is threatened. At present, they get four weeks' notice of a proposed closure.

That's not enough, says County Hall. It wants the consultation period extended to give residents a chance to mount a real fight to save their post office.

There is no doubt that four weeks is short notice. And this year two Blackburn post offices have shut in a month despite residents' petitions. Currently, two in Rossendale are under threat of closure in the same time span.

But though they are essentially businesses, post offices are valued social institutions too. For that reason alone the County Council is right to want a greater opportunity for them not to be written off at a stroke.

Yet sentiment alone won't save them. Profit and loss are the bottom line. It is up to residents to use them if they want to keep them.

The government may be undermining their viability by having benefits paid straight into people's bank accounts. But there will need to be stronger as well as longer public protest before it is moved to save our post offices.