Post Office took a 20p 'Cash Withdrawal' to buy something?

eset12345

Jlawson118 wrote: »

I know it didn't make a difference to me, I was just curious as to why they're practicing like this instead of just taking it off as a normal payment like most services would

stationery etc is a personal sale for the owners of that sub-post office, they pay the fees for any card transactions, which will eat up that whole 20p, so they are essentially giving you a free envelope, it probably even costs them more than the cost of that envelope.

postage income is for royal mail, and they pay the fees for card payments.

Jlawson118

bazzyb wrote: »

Is this an independent post office rather than a main crown office - if so, chances are they sell a few ancillary items themselves (such as this envelope) but don't have their oown card machine for those transactions, hence the cash withdrawal.

The actual postage was purchased from Post Office Ltd which is why they were able to take the payment through the main post office terminal.

Yeah I live in a very little village and it is a little post office so that would make sense

Jlawson118

cheesetoast wrote: »

Of course, it would mean that if the envelope turned out to be faulty, and they wouldn't refund/replace, you wouldn't be able to do a chargeback, as you technically paid cash.

I never thought of it like that. Though I'm hardly going to return an envelope for a refund.. :rotfl:

reclusive46

Its basically the same process that retailers use to process Debit in the United States. Its processed as a cash withdrawal over one of the ATM networks. Thats why in the US even if you use a debit card a retailer will say Debit or Credit (Debit basically means ATM network and Credit meaning process the transaction over Visa/MasterCard/Amex/Discover etc.)

I've seen some foreigners get caught out by that in the US and saying debit when using their foreign debit card and end up getting charged a cash withdrawal fee.