How much money does the post office make?

Legacy_user

Say I post a packet which costs £2.20, how much do they get of this and how much goes to Royal Mail?

Savvy_Sue

I'm sure one of the ex-posties will come along soon and say 'not enough', but why are you asking?

System

Because I go to my post office with around £200 worth of post per week, and sometimes I feel I hold up the queue a little and wondering how much they would receive for my slight trouble giving them all the parcels to stamp/process

Savvy_Sue

Ah right, I misunderstood your first post and thought you were asking about Royal Mail's profit margins.

You might find the PO is actually REALLY glad of your business!

I used to go and withdraw £50 of small change every other day for a week before a school fair, and then pay in about £1000 in cash the week afterwards: it would take several trips because I had to load it all on the pushchair, so I'd take the notes and £ coins in first, then work my way down the denominations. Of course I'd bagged it all up correctly first, but it all had to be weighed, so I certainly used to create a queue!

I tried to avoid the really busy times (ie first thing on a Monday morning!) but they said they were glad to have my business ...

Norman_Castle

You are helping to keep the post office open.

custardy

berbastrike wrote: »

Because I go to my post office with around £200 worth of post per week, and sometimes I feel I hold up the queue a little and wondering how much they would receive for my slight trouble giving them all the parcels to stamp/process

short answer,not as much as they used to
RM have cut PO margins,so margins are tighter for them
would you feel guilty whacking £200 worth of groceries through Tescos checkout?

paddyrg

They are pleased to see you, and by using it you help keep it open. Keep using it, but maybe ask the postmaster/postmistress when are busy times to try to avoid. I suspect Monday lunchtimes are full-tilt with weekend ebayers, for instance, but maybe they're dead from 9-10?

Mistral001

I used to just weigh parcels and make up the postage with stamps myself and leave it at the post office, but I found that post office staff thought this a bit unusual, so I just get them to weigh the parcel now and stick on one of their labels. I suppose they must get more commission that way otherwise they would not be so keen to do it.

Wywth

Mistral001 wrote: »

I used to just weigh parcels and make up the postage with stamps myself and leave it at the post office, but I found that post office staff thought this a bit unusual, so I just get them to weigh the parcel now and stick on one of their labels. I suppose they must get more commission that way otherwise they would not be so keen to do it.

If you are taking pre-paid/pre-stamped items and just dropping them at the PO, I guess the PO doesn't get anything.

Savvy_Sue

paddyrg wrote: »

They are pleased to see you, and by using it you help keep it open. Keep using it, but maybe ask the postmaster/postmistress when are busy times to try to avoid. I suspect Monday lunchtimes are full-tilt with weekend ebayers, for instance, but maybe they're dead from 9-10?

Monday 9-10 am used to be the Pensioners' Queue, although I suspect that's tailed off a bit now more people have them paid direct to bank accounts.

Definitely worth asking if there is a particularly quiet time on a regular basis, OR if there are times when they have more staff in: my local has 3 counters, but rarely all open.

Owain_Moneysaver

The first Monday of every month is chronically bad for PO queues, I think that's when Road Tax gets renewed or something.