Spill the beans... on cutting Post Office queues (revisited)

voucherlover

JCS1 wrote: »

Big queues does equal poor customer service. I might queue at the bank, supermarket, petrol station, but not for 45 minutes - and if the queue is big I don't go there again and take my custom elsewhere. The examples you have given have introduced ideas to cut queue times, the bank has the fast deposit, the supermarket has self scan/basket only checkouts and the petrol stations pay at pump, yet the post office does not appear to bring in changes to make things better or quicker for the customer.

My local main post office has people queuing out of the door most lunchtimes - yet they don't stagger lunches or arrange the rota so people are there to cover.

Competely agree with this post. No where else do I have to queue for as long as I do at the Post Office.

The best time I have found to visit is mid morning. Lunchtime and after3pm when people pop in on the way home from picking up thier children are the worst.

SuzySF

Cymru_Babe wrote: »

Don't stop using post offices (especially sub-post offices) to do everything online/at home because when they close you miss them and it's a huge battle to get it re-opened!!

re opened ???????? never heard of that. a local village po and shop has recently shut its now moved to the local Pub, so its a pub, food, PO, and mini shop! they also tried to close another village sub and send a PO Van twice a week...that idea was quickly forgotten when no one in the village/area would give the PO permission to park the van on their property rofl.....

i use the one left now, and that is under threat still - if that shut then its either 10 mls or 18 mls - the 18 mls is to a PO in a Spar.......but it is a "Crown" and far nicer that the crown that's closer.

mind you - since i changed sub's after my preferred one closed - i got to find out far more about whats going on and the local gossip at my "new" sub that I ever got before i went there........and it's bi-lingual - what IS welsh for toast ?? tost or bara wedi pobi (baked bread ?????)

avinabacca

siany_d wrote: »

i am a post office manager, and am one of many who is not a royal mail employee! Its bad enough that people print their postage at home already without being encouraged to find other ways to not use your post office. Business is already on a downward spiral, we need more people through the doors not less or we will start to see more closures. Post Offices are not a service, they are a business whether we like it or not. We get paid nothing for parcels that have online postage affixed, yet are expected to check that they have sufficient postage on them and face anger/abuse if we tell the "customer" that it is incorrectly priced.
Use your local post office or lose it, when its gone where will you take your prepaid parcel then???:mad:

Dear PO manager - any chance of getting your counter staff to give it a bit of a smile while they're doing their job, actually try to make it a pleasant experience? Thanks. Also, how's about suggesting that they even pretend to care a little when things go wrong and parcels etc don't get delivered, instead of blank ambivalence?

I know you're capable of cascading instructions to staff - after all, thirty seconds of any transaction at my local PO is taken up with the mandated sales-spiel - so how's about passing this on?

After all - you're a business, right? How about showing some customer service?

jonmimir

It is annoying how there are now two staff in Mcr Spring Gardens handing out numbered tickets rather than serving the enormous queue. However, the new system actually works well for me - I do my own stamps at home and the Spring Garden people will happily stamp a certificate of posting with no need to queue at all. Result!

I get my first, second and large first stamps from Costco, where they are 10% cheaper than face value. I spent a few hundred quid on them back in March before the price increase, effectively paying 47p a stamp for the large first which are now worth 61p. They also sell big boxes of cheap padded envelopes (about £10 for 50 very large ones which you can cut into 4 and reseal with sticky tape, I just realised how cheap I sound! :-)

I also buy sheets of 100x 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 17p from Royal Mail online. With those you can make up pretty much any price for first or air mail. Royal Mail do free delivery if you spend more than £34, and they also send free Air Mail sticker sheets if you ask.

As you can guess, I sell quite of a lot of things via eBay and Amazon!
Cheers
Jon

irishguymcr wrote: »

If you are going to use the Post Office in Manchester city centre try to avoid the main post office in Spring Gardens as they have installed a new system where you print a ticket and wait for your number to be called. This was meant to speed everything up but has had the opposite affect, last week I waited for 30 minutes with 60 people in front of me and this was at 3pm.
customers.

jonmimir

Also... I have learned never go to a post office on a Monday morning because there always seem to be endless queues of pensioners and/or benefits claimants. I guess it must be pay day or something?

Savysun

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

Endless Post Office queues can drive you barmy. So we want to tap MoneySavers to find ways to spend less time in the line. Do any employees have insider tips on the best days to go? Obviously lunchtimes are best avoided, but are queues longer on certain days of the month?

And what Post Office activities, eg, parcel posting and bill paying, can you do at home instead of going down in person.

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I am a branch manager and whilst our best endevours to reduce queues may not always work, unprepared customers can increase time spent at a counter by as much as 60% (in my branch). Some tips that can help staff:-
Be prepared, do not write the address at the counter, think of the people behind you.

No madam/sir we do not need your change (longest time consumer)

Special/Signed for/international signed for airsure deliveries - have your name and address on the back and if you can stick the labels on first.

If you have a problem do not argue with the staff ask for the manager.

I think some of these points have been mentioned before and in my branch we are always ready to take bulk parcels in. We will weigh them stamp them and post them, customers settle afterwards. No waiting, no queing. Most office are open to these procedure, just talk to the manager.

Savysun

I think you have a point, and I have been thinking about that for my branch but unfortunatly once you start such a scheme there is no turning back. The expense of paying staff when there in no income (Sub-offices) makes no financial sense.

jonmimir

On the subject of cashing in change - my post office also hates it when I ask them about this - recently I have started using the coin deposit machines in high street banks. The ones in the Barclays in Manchester city centre are CONSTANTLY broken, but the one in Natwest worked really well yesterday (although it didn't like any of my £2 coins or my Cayman Islands 10p ;-) They put the money straight into your current account, with no fees.

JCS1

jonmimir wrote: »

Also... I have learned never go to a post office on a Monday morning because there always seem to be endless queues of pensioners and/or benefits claimants. I guess it must be pay day or something?

Definitely avoid Monday mornings. I am lucky enough to have flexitime and popped into both Main and smaller Post Office on a Monday morning about 9.45am, and subsequently walked straight back out again. It was the same a week later too.

janiebquick

I notice that one or two of you have commented that you have been charged for packet rate when you are posting a large letter.

If this happens to you, complain in writing to the Post Office. They are well aware of this problem and seem to be doing nothing to resolve it, presumably because it makes them money. As such, they are defrauding their customers.