Just need to vent, but, arghhh, what a shower of shite!

Tried to send a parcel today, bought postage online (2nd class signed for Medium Parcel), printed off the label, and then took to my local Post Office.

Nope, can’t take this.
Why?
It’s Royal Mail.
But…you’re a Post Office?
It’s Click & Drop, we won’t accept it. Needs to go to main office in Exeter (15 miles away)
Ummm, please?
No.

Parcel literally shoved back through the effin window at me.

Well **** you RM/Post Office.
Hermes it is!

What does it say on the site you buy the postage from?

That sounds like either a problem with your post office or you bought something weird. Never had any issues like that. We’ve got a few post offices close by and they’ve all happily taken parcels booked online. Also have a parcel post box not too far away so can drop off 24/7 if you don’t need a receipt.

Post Office and Royal Mail are two different companies. I almost got caught out by that too.

They get salty about buying postage online. One near me used to take them grudgingly, but muttering dark threats about it “probably not scanning, and will probably get lost”. Shit rolls downhill.

What does it say on the site you buy the postage from?

I bought it from the Royal Mail website, and it said to take it to a post office or RM collection point 😉

Just checked, and the only services it says a Post Office won’t accept is 24 & 48 hours delivery. 2nd class parcel should be fine.

I just think I got grumpy ****.

No problem with Royal Mail, Post Office or Parcel Force.
Used to have no problems with Hermes until they lost something and it took ages to get the money back from them due to their huge queues to get through to complaints/claims on the phone.
Parcel Force collected from the house if it is big like a bike or guitar amp, and Parcel Force dropped off at any of my local post offices if it is small enough for a backpack.

Yeah I’ve been caught this way too – bought Tracked 48 and took it to a Post Office who told me to take it to Royal Mail delivery office. Which was shut due to Covid 🙁

It’s because Post Offices don’t get any payment for handling stuff with postage paid online. If you bought the same service from them, then they’d be happy to take it. Our local Post Office used to take stuff but would happily point this out each time – I get their point, many of them are smaller independent shops now, rather than Post Office staff (did they not sack all of them over fraud which turned out to be an IT issue?!).

From about 60p (depending on size of parcel), you can have it collected from your house – I just do that now (or use MyHerpes).

The individual Post Office makes zero cash from the transaction – if you want a receipt for the parcel, it costs them money.

That’s what I got told by a guy at my local PO. Buy stuff there (which is more expensive than online) and they make a bit. What they really want you to do is buy some newspapers /sweets or other stuff.

All my eBay stuff is priced at the higher price as I don’t want to see the post office go; but they don’t help themselves with queues out of the door when I can drop and run with Herpes/DHL etc.

The individual Post Office makes zero cash from the transaction

That’s incredible – RM expect them to take parcels for them but don’t pay them! Not a sustainable business model. Our local sub-postmaster must be a generous type, or he recognises me as an occasional shop customer. I thought buying online or putting on stamps was saving him time.

Pretty sure it’s a criminal offence for them to refuse to accept your item. You could try reminding them of this fact but I think you’ll just wind them up even more.

They were taking so long to deliver items sent in December first class taking full whack but no offers of compensation. There must have been millions of items taking ages to deliver but they get away with it

I had very similar.
It was a package that came with prepaid return label.
Post office wouldn’t accept it, but could go in the post box outside as it was a priority collection one.
Baffling.

Unrelated to the general topic but I think RM are still having a lot of internal issues, as mentioned above with late Xmas deliveries

Early feb, my mum posted a medium parcel to my sister, 2nd class, with a puzzle and few pairs of socks as a birthday present, and it took just under three weeks to arrive. From Hertfordshire > North London (about 20 miles)

That’s incredible – RM expect them to take parcels for them but don’t pay them!

The Post Office has a history of sending their subpostmasters to prison, so RM not paying POs for their work is small beer.

You got the grumpy idiot.
We have one of those. I would love to buy all the post online and make him deal with it, but I’d rather take it a mile away and support the local business that deserves it.

Ok I run a post office…..

You didn’t get “the grumpy idiot” it’s not the post office’s fault. They are just doing their job.
This happens when a customer buys postage through the RM site rather than PO – RM are a seperate company to PO and recently started processing their own post bypassing any fees that PO make. They also started a postman will collect service (for an additional fee) so you don’t have to visit the PO.

When we scan a parcel that’s been processed this way, a prompt comes up on the screen telling the PO server that they can’t accept the package (under any circumstances) as its a RM item (we don’t get paid for it).

It’s similar to trying to drop off a collect plus item at a Hermes drop off site. Or a ups parcel at a dpd depo…..

RM has essentially broken their contact with PO. By processing their own post they cut out post office completly. PO came to an arrangement with RM in November that they can now accept other carriers, where as before they were tied contractually to RM. PO is now trialing accepting Hermes at (I think) 150 Scottish post offices. With a national role out later this year (summer?).

You should soon be given a wider choice of carrier and service at post offices, IE the cheapest and best one that suits your needs including being able to send through Hermes direct from the PO (no need to process on line first).

The 2nd class signed med parcel the op would have paid for online will be cheaper than the £9.99 it would have cost at the postoffice. That difference is the cost of the post office being their in the first place.

Royal mail have completely shot themselves in the foot as there are now over 15k post office sites in the UK that have the potential to take parcels from multiple carriers, many of which are cheaper than royal mail.

@monkeyboyjc
That’s a very good explanation, and if she’d explained it like that I would have accepted it with more equanimity.

As it is was she just said no, take it 15 miles away, and almost threw it at me.

She might be pissed off with RM, but that’s not my fault!

She is a ‘grumpy idiot’ though. During lockdown 1 she refused to accept a parcel from a mates wife, because apparently a birthday present isn’t ‘essential’. True story.

Up until this point she’s been mostly ok with me, but her lack of customer service skills is legendary in our small Devon Town.

The old Post Master was a lovely guy who literally knew everyone’s birthdays, etc.
She took over about 5 years ago, and is grumpy, sour-faced, old bag.

And this is why I get all the customers from the two other local PO’s – dunno why but I enjoy my job, it seems 99% of post office staff/owners absolutely hate their customers and trade. 😁

monkeyboyjc

Thanks for taking the time to post that (no pun intended) as I never knew all this was going on behind the scenes and it’s handy to know for the future.👍

RM have shot themselves in the foot – exactly what I was going to say. But they haven’t done PO any favours. Hermes will pick up from our porch without us even having to go to the door, so I can’t see any point in using the PO now – except as a shop, which I will do.

Sight thread hijack, but since Monkeyboy seems to know his stuff….
Do the PO set opening times or is my local just being awkward? It’s in the village shop, which has different opening times.
For example, the PO shuts at 1230 on a Saturday (something like that anyway) and the shop is open until 1400 but between 1230 and 1400 I only use the shop and not post anything, which would involve the staff member (same person, so not a training issue or anything) walking ten feet to the back of the room, opening a door and then serving me from there.
Seems very odd to have the building open and the staff there but not serving people.

@andrewh The shop sets the opening times, the vast majority of post offices are more like a retail concession, working on a commission rather than a fully paid up post office (like the old days). There only something like 6 ‘crown’ post offices left in the country, they are the ones where the staff actually get paid a wage rather than work on a commission.

We don’t have a fortress (post office room), only a single postoffice counter so we have a policy of – if we are open the post office is – Mon to Sunday. I bank the shop through the postoffice at the end of each day so it has to remain open just for that anyway.

Usually it’s a staffing thing if they shut the postoffice earlier than the shop.running two members of staff, & having a dedicated member of staff for postoffice would be a PITA for us, it would never make the money back of the hourly wage. It can take some time to shut down and cash up the postoffice each day, so I’m guessing on a Saturday your local wants some time off in the afternoon and shuts the PO down before the shop so they can quickly get out of there when the shop shuts.

I bank the shop through the postoffice at the end of each day so it has to remain open just for that anyway.

Ooft, be careful!

I’ve been following the Horizon IT issue since Computer Weekly broke the story over a decade ago, I use to be on their Editorial Board. A scandal and a total abuse of ‘power’.

And interestingly one thing it has done is fortified my absolute opposition to capital punishment, because I don’t trust the Executive to not abuse it’s position to protect itself. Any Executive.

The horizon issue is well known. Just owning/running a postoffice is a risk as you have to use it.
But using it to bank cash, like another customer can,isn’t an issue.

If you are dropping the parcel at a post office why bother buying online, printing off label etc,.
I can see the point of that is dropping off at a collection box but if going to the Post Office you may as well just pay/send when there.

A few reasons I can think of why people buy postage online.
1. It’s cheaper, although generally only marginally (20p?), but this can be good if you have multiple items.
2. You get tracking details immediately – this is good for commercial items as you can then provide the info to the recipient immediately rather than after visiting.
3. It’s alot quicker at the postoffice, you still may need to queue to drop off the item/s. But it takes seconds to process and get a receipt, rather than minutes and a bunch of questions & interaction.

Reasons to go into the post office and pay.
1. You maybe unsure of the weight/size of the item (getting this wrong can be costly)
2. You maybe unsure of the safest or best service to send the item. This can be confusing, especially for international items.
3. You have other transactions to do, like banking, taking cash out or buying stamps. Or using the potential other shop facilities.
4. You want to support your local businesses and keep your money flowing locally.

Buy online pay the extra 60p get the postie to pick it up when he delivers to you works well and I pick up around 5 a day you can leave in a safe place. PO staff are as a rule generally grumpy  I know I have to interact with them a lot.

There are large parcel boxes springing up usually on industrial estates so you can click and drop there.

Rich

A few reasons I can think of why people buy postage online.
1. It’s cheaper, although generally only marginally (20p?), but this can be good if you have multiple items.
2. You get tracking details immediately – this is good for commercial items as you can then provide the info to the recipient immediately rather than after visiting.
3. It’s alot quicker at the postoffice, you still may need to queue to drop off the item/s. But it takes seconds to process and get a receipt, rather than minutes and a bunch of questions & interaction.

Reasons to go into the post office and pay.
1. You maybe unsure of the weight/size of the item (getting this wrong can be costly)
2. You maybe unsure of the safest or best service to send the item. This can be confusing, especially for international items.
3. You have other transactions to do, like banking, taking cash out or buying stamps. Or using the potential other shop facilities.
4. You want to support your local businesses and keep your money flowing locally.

– Cost isn’t a big factor, if the difference is only 20p then I’m not bothered.
– Speed is, I can be in and out with parcels in a minute or so with pre-bought postage. Otherwise I’m there for 5-10 minutes, weighting, labels, paying, receipts, etc.
– I honestly thought that the PO would get at least something for accepting a parcel. If they don’t I can see why they’d be annoyed! On the other hand, both the PO and RM need to make this a lot clearer to stop the kind of thing that happened yesterday.

Hermes will pick up from our porch without us even having to go to the door, so I can’t see any point in using the PO now

Yeah, but Hermes.

One of the single most impressive things about the Royal Mail is the special delivery service, which is stunningly reliable and given that it includes insurance, also great value for money. Also, the postman knows where everyone lives and arrives at a predictable time.

special delivery service

I can’t hear that without the ‘new’ Postman Pat theme going through my head.

I try to support the local PO as much as poss. They are having a tough time of it.

We always just walk down to our PO. The two lads that run it are great. I wonder if it is one of the last remaining crown POs though, as apart from a small handful of very old school cards and some envelopes, it is literally just a PO counter. I always have confidence my parcel will turn up!

RM definitely still having issues in London. My brother gets parcels no problems, but letters generally take 2 weeks and have done since November. He posted my birthday card to me last week – even put 2 first class stamps on out of desperation – still took 7 days.

Up until this point she’s been mostly ok with me, but her lack of customer service skills is legendary in our small Devon Town.

Is it bad that the moment you said “Devon” I knew exactly which Post Office you mean?

I had one like this recently, website said I could drop it at a parcel post box and I would get digital proof of postage.

I expect there is a parcel post box in most towns

Following a quick search there appears to be 191 crown* post offices!

* directly managed by Post Office Ltd

I had one like this recently, website said I could drop it at a parcel post box and I would get digital proof of postage.

I expect there is a parcel post box in most towns

No drop off box here, nearest is about 12/13 miles away.

Wouldn’t have worked anyway, as it was a medium parcel/poster roll tube, so too long.

But still ok as a medium parcel by the RM guidelines – this is another ‘argument’ I’ve had with her in the past…
She doesn’t believe me that I can send a cardboard tube as long as it’s under 90cm, and combined length + 2x diameter of under 104cm.
It’s axis she’s wilfully ignoring the rules, and refuses to budge even when you show her the RM website.

Anyway, I posted it with Hermes in the end.
Cheaper, easier, and they even print the label for free at the shop.

Just wait to see if I ever get a refund from RM!