Post Office Refusing Pre Paid Mail

patman99 · 20 April 2017 at 10:57PM

I got tol by my local small PO that they don't get paid for handling pre-paid items and that the future of a PO is decided by how much of their running costs they recoup from counter sales.

For every item posted, they recieve a fee from RM. If the total of all the fees exceeds 80% of the PO's running costs, then the PO is safe. If the total is less than 50%, the PO is in danger of being closed down.

unforeseen · 21 April 2017 at 7:09AM

I would have thought it would be part of their contract with RM that they have to accept all (legitimate) mail including pre-paid.

NBLondon · 21 April 2017 at 9:37AM

RFW wrote: »

when I do I know what I want so I'll ask, for example, "can I send this second class large letter?" I still get them trying to sell me a special delivery.

I used to get that a lot at a certain Crown PO I used for sending out work documents - even when I've already said 1st Signed For. So I would make a point of filling in the survey from the bottom of the receipt and marking them down for it every time. I thought it was just an edict from on-high to ask every time so I fed it back rather than snapping at the assistant... then I changed POs and it didn't happen, so presumably it was a branch level instruction.

I get the point that a small subPO might be borderline and that certain services don't make them any money. Sadly, that's not really the customer's problem - it's the contract with RM that's squeezing them - just like supermarkets squeeze their suppliers.

Kaston · 21 April 2017 at 4:54PM

I have both a sub Post Office (within a local shop) and a Crown Post Office quite near me. I once had a lot of small items on Ebay that all sold at the same time. I used EBay to purchase the postage and took all my parcels to the Crown Post office. It was quite busy and the guy behind the counter wasn't happy. He asked me to bring them back later when he had time to process them all as I wanted proof of postage. Instead, I took them round to the sub Post Office. I apologised to them for "dumping" so many small parcels on them in one hit. The sub Post Master was really pleasant and told me that he was quite happy with any business. He said that even though my parcels were pre paid, they went towards the total number of items that they handled and helped to protect them against future closure. His attitude was that the busier they were, the less likely they were to be affected by the Post Office cutting back on the number of offices. Guess where I've taken all my parcels since? If I have a few parcels, I still buy my postage on line, but if I only have one or two, I buy it at the Post Office as the few pence saving isn't worth the hassle of printing labels and sticking them on.

CLEARANCE_FEE · 22 April 2017 at 5:48PM

unforeseen wrote: »

I would have thought it would be part of their contract with RM that they have to accept all (legitimate) mail including pre-paid.

This is what is bugging me. The Post Master have singed up to Royal Mails terms and conditions however they don't want to honor their obligations.

Kaston wrote: »

He said that even though my parcels were pre paid, they went towards the total number of items that they handled and helped to protect them against future closure. His attitude was that the busier they were, the less likely they were to be affected by the Post Office cutting back on the number of offices.

This is what is confusing me there are conflicting reports saying they do and don't count against the total and conflicting reports saying they do and don't get paid depending on how the label is put trough the system.

The post master don't seem to know and how something can be so important to their business but they can be so clueless about it is beyond me.

ballisticbrian · 4 May 2017 at 1:52PM

I had to take franked mail to a different post office to usual today but they wouldn't take the parcel saying it was franked with the incorrect amount when it was not. Also, some post offices don't even check the franked amount due to it being between us and Royal Mail and we are fined if it's wrong. Does anyone know the address to complain about this to, potentially post offices trying to put off people dropping franked mail there?

Huskydays · 5 May 2017 at 6:59AM

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I had to take franked mail to a different post office to usual today but they wouldn't take the parcel saying it was franked with the incorrect amount when it was not. Also, some post offices don't even check the franked amount due to it being between us and Royal Mail and we are fined if it's wrong. Does anyone know the address to complain about this to, potentially post offices trying to put off people dropping franked mail there?

I've had the same issue on several occasions, the Post Office weren't aware of Mailmark franking rates and tried to get me to pay the extra postage (9/10p per item). Fortunately the office was nearby so I nipped back and gave them a copy of our Royal Mail pricing chart :cool:

There was only one that was a real issue, he was very aggressive and threw the post on the floor behind him saying he was 'busy' and 'would do it later' - they're shut now (surprise). I believe we submitted a complaint through RM's website and then emailed the CEO. Got the matter sorted with no further problems.

I now take it to a new post office attached to a shop, the people working there only had two weeks training from RM so it was a bit of a nightmare to begin with but now I've got them all trained up!

soolin · 5 May 2017 at 8:55AM

ballisticbrian wrote: »

I had to take franked mail to a different post office to usual today but they wouldn't take the parcel saying it was franked with the incorrect amount when it was not. Also, some post offices don't even check the franked amount due to it being between us and Royal Mail and we are fined if it's wrong. Does anyone know the address to complain about this to, potentially post offices trying to put off people dropping franked mail there?

My local Crown PO is a nightmare, not one of the counter clerks treats my bags the same as any other and I did complain once when they refused to stamp a copy of my order total /manifest, but RM online just said they would take steps to 're-educate' the clerks with the correct handling of the business post, but it hasn't improved. I suppose the problem really is that I was dealing with RM on the phone and PO counters at the drop off.

If I don't have a lot, like today as selling yesterday appeared to be completely switched off! I will take my bags and just leave them at the drop point but with a copy of my manifest tucked under the cable holder that keeps my bags closed. I won't queue up at all for any receipt as they will probably refuse to stamp a 2nd copy, and in any case their queues are about 30 minutes long on a normal day.

I have wondered though what I would do if a bag went missing as these are left in an open area with all the other specials, signed for etc as they take nothing over the counter . Everyone in WH Smiths has access to that drop point as it is completely open.

Post Office Refusing Pre Paid Mail

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