Forum menu
In my experience Tesco suffers from those who only just have a fingernail clinging onto the change in technology deciding that they can use the self scan checkouts for an entire trolley load. They then have to study each item looking for the barcode.
But stamps that barcode pseudoserration is a joke.
Luckily I try not to deal with people at work.
they can use the self scan checkouts for an entire trolley load
And then, without fail, after they've completed everything, only then do they start bagging up all the loose items from the scale which is literally called the bagging area.
The designer who put the crinkly line in between the picture and bar code was not thinking this through. Remember the customer can be any member of the public.<br /><br />
You’re absolutely right, I posted several cards today, which I put current 1st Class stamps on, and I noticed the faux perf line along the edge and thought it was odd. I’ve still got a bunch of Christmas stamps from last year, and I asked the girl in the post office, (well, it’s a Morrisons Local with a post office counter, but still), if they were still valid without the barcode. Apparently they are, because they’re a special design, so will still be processed as normal. If the stamps are generic 1st/2nd, then the recipient will pay an excess fee. <br />Worth noting and keeping in mind.
“I want to buy a Christmas card and send it to a mate in Spain, how do I do that? Have you got his address? How much!! I’m not paying £2.20!!”
Might have been worth asking him how much it would’ve cost to deliver it himself…
One of the cards I posted today was to New York, and it also cost me £2.20, which I consider to be pretty reasonable to get it across 5000-odd miles of ocean. <br />most of my cards I deliver by hand, even when the recipient is 20-30 miles away, because it gives me a chance to keep in touch with friends I otherwise don’t see that often.
Oh, and to answer the original question, compared to Americans, at least most of our shitty, entitled customers don’t carry guns…
The faux perforation line is confusing to me...
Presumably it's to help automated scanners, but I could see why that would be confusing to some.
Surely a solid black line could serve the same purpose for optical scanning whilst also discouraging the hard of thinking to rip that bit off.
It doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me.
I'm generally OK with my (adult) children, make appropriate allowances for elderly and infirm but other than that the 'great british public' as customers/clients can go ***k themselves.
As a youth about a million years ago, I worked in retail on Saturdays and during school holidays; most customers were polite, pleasant, understanding and undemanding.
Those who weren't were either ignored or, if real arses, shown the door.
I kissed goodbye to any involvement in front line line retail decades ago but have worked in retail support roles since - occasionally.
There has been a rapid and regrettable transition towards customers with a perceived sense of entitlement backed up with arrogance, ignorance and a complete absence of any social skills - of even the most basic kind.
Grunt, swear, I know my rights, want to see your manager - now.
If only the response could be...piss off you fat/ugly/ignorant/drunken peasant back to your flea infested hovel where you can rot and die; I will then defecate on your pauper's grave.
I don't like the new barcode stamp as it seems they don't print the dated postmark over it any more. This means I can't gauge the timeliness of letter deliveries in my area (which is of interest as parcels are taking over 2 weeks and I reckon we only see the postie once week!)
PS I've have helped the customer drastically slim down their Christmas card list by posting all the cards without the stamp, next year she would be able to move a lot of acquaintances into the 'did not receive' column 🙂
It’s not like they haven’t been happily delivering non-barcoded stamps since the beginning of stamps, it’s simply a punitive charge.
The last 5 years or so saw an influx of fake stamps sold online at dramatically reduced prices - these were cutting out all UK revenue, so royal mail, the 3000 or so remaining postoffices and 12500 franchise postoffices independent shops like mine. People were thinking they were having a good deal by saving 10p on a stamp but we're screwing everyone over and sending there money over seas, a bit like those Lewis brakes on another thread.
I don't mind the printed perfection line - stamps have been sticky back for years now. None are perforated and there definitely isn't an easy way to tare them but RM who design and issue the stamps have done a terrible job of marketing and awareness. The £5 fee seems extremely high though.
I don’t like the new barcode stamp as it seems they don’t print the dated postmark over it any more
A visible date mark hasn't been used in most sorting offices for around 10years - they used an infrared in. Again a reason they changed to the barcode system is that every stamp can only be used once as each code is unique and the data they acquire knowing where and when each letter goes is useful to RM. It also stops people trying to reuse stamps.
The full quote is –
‘In matters of taste, the customer is always right.’Weird that first bit got dropped.
Depends on who you're quoting - thats Marshall Field. But theres also Henry Gordon Selfridge “right or wrong; the customer is always right.”
a reason they changed to the barcode system is that every stamp can only be used once as each code is unique and the data they acquire knowing where and when each letter goes is useful to RM
Means they can instantly tell how many weeks it's been sitting in a pile of trays kicked under the frame while the line managers force the posties to prioritise parcels over hospital letters, bank cards and court summons....
Grunt, swear, I know my rights
I always found that to be a great 'tell' that they didn't.
It's why I took an amateur interest in consumer law in the first place. Aged 20 with some bloke twice your age yelling "I know my rights!" at you, it's difficult not to go "oh, well, OK then." Which is what they bank on, of course. Knowing their rights better than they do is an invaluable, nay essential, skill if you work in a customer-facing role.
The designer who put the crinkly line in between the picture and bar code was not thinking this through. Remember the customer can be any member of the public.
I don’t mind the printed perfection line – stamps have been sticky back for years now. None are perforated and there definitely isn’t an easy way to tare them
An ageing friend of my (ageing) mum used a scissors to cut the bar codes off because they wouldn't tear along the line 🙁 (This is after she'd got the message about needing to send all her 'old' stamps off to get the new ones).
First she knew about it was when the recipients started mentioning that they'd had to pay extra to get the letters.
I’ve often wondered if the retired actually know when it is the weekend?
Easy - it's two days after bin day.
The only way I know it's bine day is when I step outside and all my retired neighbours have had them out since 430am
The thing with the stamps is… if you already know the purpose of the barcode, then you can’t necessarily appreciate the confusion… where as for a huge chunk of the public, barcodes are something on packaging that help you buy the goods… the barcode’s purpose is then complete and can be thrown away when you use the thing you’ve bought. It’s poor design, and a sign of a culture where those who sign off on the designs are not capable of putting themselves in the mindset of users outside the system they work in and for. The barcodes should be integrated into the stamp design fully to indicate it is not outside the stamp, but part of it.
1<br />snownrockFull Member<br />The only way I know it’s bine day is when I step outside and all my retired neighbours have had them out since 430am<br />We call them ‘binfluencers’ thanks to Susie Dent.<br /><br />
or indeed “bindicators”
anyway back to the awful customer stories!
Seems to depend on the postie, we accidentally sent some cards out with old stamps on, 5/6 delivered with no charge…
Old Christmas stamps, or old regular style (pre-barcode)?
Old regular style, all from the same book, 2 went to Scotland, 2 to Northumberland, 2 to Huddersfield (from Leeds) only the Huddersfield ones got charged (just had confirmation of the 2nd one having fees requested.)
Easy – it’s two days after bin day
Thursday and Friday aren't the weekend!
Old style were still being honoured according to Count Zero.
Can I kick against opinion here. It's a sticker, it's pretty obvious to me you put the whole sticker on particularly as there's nothing anywhere advising people to cut bits off.
The old folk round herecput their bins out a day or two early. I presume to give them something to do
The old folk round herecput their bins out a day or two early. I presume to give them something to do
Around here they have a day of discussing whether it's the brown / green bin week or the black bin week first.
The barcaode stamp design is stupid.
Shipping is the cause of 90% of our customer service interactions despite all the information and tracking being sent to the customer. No we don't have a s
hotline to the boss of Royal Mail so we can find out why the your free postage order that was done at 5pm on a Friday hasn't arrived in the Outer Hebrides.
The barcaode stamp design is stupid.
But necessary because the picture ones were being massively faked on eBay and Amazon
Having a barcode isn’t the design mistake, making it look separate and detachable from the stamp is.
Anyway, customers… most are no bother… many are genuinely a pleasure and delight to deal with, even if they return with a problem that needs dealing with, or if assistance is required for something surprising you’d normally assume people could understand without help… only a tiny handful are “bad”, but they can take up a surprising amount of time that would be better spent on the “good” majority.
Having a barcode isn’t the design mistake, making it look separate and detachable from the stamp is.
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
the bit that everyone is discussing - the graphic of a perforation that seems to indicate the bit that looks like a stamp can / should be detached from the bit that doesn't look like a stamp. Its a piece of common graphic communication - on any other product that would be a prompt to the used that the two parts should be separated.
Really its only a mistake people are likely to make once - in reality although we tend to get mail through the door most weeks its now quite rare that any of us actually post anything which is why the cost of a stamp is a perennial surprise and conversation point. That 'once' won't have happened for plenty of people yet - but you may yet get the bill for mail that has the stamp damaged because now is the time any of your friends and relatives are going to make that mistake. Most of the mail I received doesnt have a stamp on it, in fact until today I hadn't received an envelope with a new style stamp on it - only prepaid envelopes with an image of the new style stamps printed onto it. The new design of stamp might have been around for a while but now will be the first time most people will have actual bought and used one - its might even be the first time most people will actually see one.
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
The dotted line that makes it look like it’s supposed to tear off?
Around here they have a day of discussing whether it’s the brown / green bin week or the black bin week first.
They’ve streamlined that whole thing here - it’s a flurry of posts on faceberk now.
its a matching scallop edging to the rest of the stamp. Which granted is the traditional shape of an old tear off stamp.
Its a piece of common graphic communication – on any other product that would be a prompt to the used that the two parts should be separated.
But not the scissors logo, or 'tear here'
But clearly others think it's a perforation and I can't tell you that your interpretation is wrong because it's your interpretation. So best left there.
I'm sure the bloke in our local PO is a member of the Chattaway family. He creates queues.
Yes – the barcode/qr code is missing which is now the stamp. I suppose you could send a letter with just the barcode, but not without. The fee the other end is now £5 too! The amount of refusals and complaints we get when the receiver finds out it’s a Christmas card 😂
I know it's not rocket science but the new stamps where there is a perforation between the pictures and the barcode kind of encourages people to rip the barcode off. It not a great design. Why have the perforation at all
Edit. Sorry. Already been said by someone else.
try dealing with Americans. Themost peverse nation i’ve ever dealt with
They are pretty good at serial killers, high school shootings and have the highest prison population in the world. Psychotherapy and self help is almost a norm just to get through American life. Not to mention families bringing their kids up like they're in a military boot camp. Some of the longest working hours backed up by the lowest holiday entitlement. The worst poverty and homelessness of any rich country.
Seems their societal ideals come at some cost, unless you are rich/a celebrity/from a rich family/revered for making money. Yet British people want to be American, have adopted American political (woke and all that shit) and cultural ideals because of their all pervading social media and cultural brainwashing that started long before social media existed!
They are pretty good at serial killers, high school shootings and have the highest prison population in the world. Psychotherapy and self help is almost a norm just to get through American life. Not to mention families bringing their kids up like they’re in a military boot camp. Some of the longest working hours backed up by the lowest holiday entitlement. The worst poverty and homelessness of any rich country.
Seems their societal ideals come at some cost, unless you are rich/a celebrity/from a rich family/revered for making money. Yet British people want to be American, have adopted American political (woke and all that shit) and cultural ideals because of their all pervading social media and cultural brainwashing that started long before social media existed!
The scary thing is moving towards the American way, but without the higher wages and possibly as strong unions. From what I can gather unions still have a good deal of power.
The Americans I know (from Tennessee) are really no different to us.
The notable exception being religion, being a guest I just about got away with suggesting a magical invisible sky friend was a bit silly. I’d had a reasonable amount of moonshine at that point.
Oh and the guns.
One weeks paid leave and one weeks unpaid leave was talked about. I also gather in the corporate world people try and avoid taking leave so as not to lose out to someone else.
The scary thing is moving towards the American way, but without the higher wages and possibly as strong unions
Of course we will get the cheaper, smaller, and greyer English version.