Yes you're right I am confused. Do you know if there's some sort of internal market within the post office, similar to how GP surgeries run in the NHS? Or some sort of franchise system? I think that's what's thrown me a bit. I've heard individual post offices being talked about like they're 'owned' by a specific person and typically the people referred to are business types who have multiple things going on
Sub-Post Offices are basically franchises, and these are the ones affected by the IT disaster. Branches owned directly by Post Office Ltd. are referred to as Crown Post Offices.