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

macfly

postofficegirl wrote: »

Yes local sub offices are smaller and quieter but I have found people can get alot of wrong information and end up coming to the main crown office anyway.

Made me laugh. Crown offices are driven to upsell, so are not the best option if you are not sure.
Use the bulk certificates even if only posting three or four bits. Organise your stuff in to weight bands if you can as multiple labels are quicker.
I have worked for both the crown and sub offices. People who are even slightly genned up speed things up significantly.
In deprived areas, avoid Mondays. They are packed to the doors.

debt_free_soon

The biggest cause of queues in the post offices I go to are the post office staff themselves.... if they're not trying to sell car insurance, loans, banking or credit cards they're spending 5 minutes asking little old Mrs Miggins how her cat's doing.

If I wanted to go to a social club, a social club I would go to, if I want a loan or a credit card then I'll go to a bank.
I go to the Post Office to post packages..... the clue's in the title of the location!!

Cure queues..... stop the staff from selling crap noone wants and conducting their social life and get them actually serving. Job Done.

Edited to add that I know it's not the actual staff members' fault, but they have a voice with management and should use it.

minerva_windsong

I don't know if these have already been mentioned, but some larger post offices have now got machines - they're called something like 'Fast Post' but I can't remember the exact name - which are similar to supermarket self service checkouts. You put your letter/parcel on the scales, the machine weighs it for you, tells you how much it will be and then print the postage label out for you. I sell quite a few things on PlayTrade and eBay and it makes it so much faster than getting a ticket and queuing up.

dizziblonde

Drive past ours (tiny thing, far too small for what it's used for), see if queue's coming out of the door (fairly regular event), if not - go park car and go in, if it is - give up and go back later.

pixwix

Other than just the usual crush to post letters at the end of a working day - easily avoided - I find two things seem to cause queues.


First, the geographical pricing lottery mentioned by another poster. I have a choice between my local PO a mile away and the next nearest, about 7 miles away. The local one is usually fairly quiet, which is hardly surprising as it's run by a miserable Basil Fawlty character who seems to regard every task and enquiry as an unconscionable affront. Plus it's quite noticeable that parcels will cost more to post there than at the other PO. The other PO is usually much busier - so perhaps the smaller branch is partially to blame!


Another cause of queues, at both POs, is of course people queuing for their pensions. These days courtesy of the PO Card Account we were all encouraged to use for our pensions and benefits. An account supposedly designed for the elderly and/or disabled, but accessible only by queuing inside a PO!!! No cash machine or online access - and no access at all outside opening hours.

Cash machine access to PO Card Accounts might knock those queues down just a little, not to mention being a damn sight more convenient.


OT a little - but do spare a thought for those elderly people in the queue. We all seem to spend our lives wishing the old fart ahead of us would get their act together. Then one day, we turn around to see why the queue behind us is so restless - and realise we've become the old fart in question!:D

macfly

debt_free_soon wrote: »

The biggest cause of queues in the post offices I go to are the post office staff themselves.... if they're not trying to sell car insurance, loans, banking or credit cards they're spending 5 minutes asking little old Mrs Miggins how her cat's doing.

If I wanted to go to a social club, a social club I would go to, if I want a loan or a credit card then I'll go to a bank.
I go to the Post Office to post packages..... the clue's in the title of the location!!

Cure queues..... stop the staff from selling crap noone wants and conducting their social life and get them actually serving. Job Done.

Edited to add that I know it's not the actual staff members' fault, but they have a voice with management and should use it.

How naive. Postage earns any PO 6%. Any business on that margin would not survive. The staff have a voice with management do they? Try telling that to B.A. staff or the miners.
Supermarkets have their own credit cards. If you're looking for one, the Post Office card is pretty good. Even recommended by Martin.

harveybobbles

pixwix wrote: »

Cash machine access to PO Card Accounts might knock those queues down just a little, not to mention being a damn sight more convenient.

We're lucky enough to have two, yes, TWO Post Offic ecash machines in the town I live. One is right in the town centre, which means paying to park up or just abandon the car somewhere.

The other one is about 5 miles away.

My main annoyance in PO's is the queues and the tutting I get from the cantankerous old bag in there who's only outlook on life is to die...

macfly

All Bank of Ireland ATM's outside a Post Office can be used by people with PO card accounts. The elderly don't like them though.

MadMom

Why anyone still goes to the post office these days escapes me. You can print your postage online (or by stamps while doing the grocery shop), do your road tax online, and apply for passport renewals, drivers licence renewals, and international driving permits all online. Perhaps if people didn't leave everything to the last minute there wouldn't need to be a mad dash to the PO and the resultant long queues!

Obviously_the_best

MadMom wrote: »

Why anyone still goes to the post office these days escapes me. You can print your postage online (or by stamps while doing the grocery shop), do your road tax online, and apply for passport renewals, drivers licence renewals, and international driving permits all online. Perhaps if people didn't leave everything to the last minute there wouldn't need to be a mad dash to the PO and the resultant long queues!

Maybe because you need tracking number, recorded/special delivery labels, proof of postage, the parcel wont fit in a post box, maybe people, especially the elderly, just like getting out and into town and post the letters at the post office because they've done it for 60 years, maybe people don't trust computers to handle their personal info... etc etc etc. The list is endless, and maybe just to support it, it's been a part of the community for over 100 years and people don't like letting things like that go.