Drop and Go

[danceonline]

Hi all,

I recently signed up for a Drop and Go card. As an online retailer, it's fantastic to be able to just waltz past the Christmas queue, drop off my bag of parcels and let my local post office take care of them in their own time. I honestly can't recommend the service enough.

Here is my question. When I got my card, the post office employee mentioned that he thought I would be able to log onto the Royal Mail website somewehere, register my card and log onto my Drop and Go account, to find out information on the remaining balance on my card and also to be given the tracking numbers for any special delivery and signed for items I had sent.

I have searched long and hard and have not been able to find anything of the sort. Am I right in assuming that the person I spoke to gave me incorrect information, or perhaps this is something that is in the pipeline but not yet available?

It would certainly make sense, given that we already have an account that the post office people can check from their computers, for us to be able to check the same information. Even better, to be able to top up the amount on the pre-paid card online, and download our receipts and tracking codes, thus never again needing to bother the post office staff. If this isn't yet possible, it is definitely something that should be considered.

Does anyone know any more about this?

[SpacePhoenix]

Never heard of that myself. If you're posting enough stuff daily then collections might be worth it for yourself: http://www.royalmail.com/general-corres ... ollections" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[danceonline]

That's a shame, I think not having the option of an online account really limits the usefulness of the Drop and Go service for online sellers like myself. I don't have nearly enough volume of sales to justify signing up for a collection service, but enough to not want to queue up at the post office. I am sure there are many people in my situation and Drop and Go seems like the answer, however if one of my customers pays for special delivery or international tracked, they quite rightly want to know the tracking number. For that, I have to queue at the post office so I can collect the paper receipts, which completely defeats the purpose - well not completely, but at least in part.
I spoke to a post office employee, he seems to think that the information about each parcel I send (including tracking numbers) gets logged onto the Royal Mail system under my Drop and Go account number, so he suggested I give them a call (which I will do and report back here). If they are able to access it, that means it is possible and all they need to do is design a secure online interface that Drop and Go customers can register for, then log onto whenever they need to access that information. We should also be able to check our card balance and top it up as required. It makes total sense and frankly I am quite surprised that this system is not in place already.
I have to say, from my brief experience of the Drop and Go system it really feels like this is a new service that is not yet widely used and not very well understood, not just by its users but by its providers as well. Each post office branch handles it differently: one place tells me I need to leave my card there if I want them to process my parcels; another place says I only need to write the card number on the bag; one place says I need to write the contents of each parcel on a post-it note; another says this is not necessary as long as you comply with the prohibited items rules. Today I went to collect my receipts, the first employee clearly had no idea what I was talking about and had to turn to her supervisor, who then went to fish the receipts out of a (clearly very disorganised) pile of papers. To top it all, they couldn't find the most recent ones: "Sorry, my colleague processed your latest bag and I don't know where she put the receipts, please come back Monday.". So now I have to queue twice just to get these tracking numbers.
It's clear that post office staff have not been given proper briefing on how to provide the service in a consistent and organised manner. It's also clear that the service has been rolled out without sufficient forward planning, as a kind of experiment to see if it would take off or not, before the Royal Mail commits to anything more expensive like setting up online accounts.
I will still continue using the service but at the moment I feel like a bit of a pioneer, helping the Royal Mail trial a service and discover any problems that might need ironing out. Well, that's the first two problems for them to sort out if they want this to be a success:
1. We absolutely, definitely NEED an online account that provides us with access to all the same information available to the Post Office employees;
2. They need to give all post office staff proper training and clear guidelines on how the service should be provided and how the receipts should be collected and organised, rather than leaving it to each branch to come up with their own system.
If there is a more suitable platform to voice my opinion and suggest these changes, I'd be happy to be pointed in the right direction. I think the Drop and Go service is a great idea, let's get it working properly!

[Pgowdy]

I've had the same problem. I asked the guys at the post office if i could get a total for everything i've put through my card and they told me i needed to register the card on line. I've had the card for nearly 2 years now and i don't know of any way of registering it on line.
They also tell me that i should be receiving emails with offers and deals. Again, 2 years and not a thing.

Bit crap.

[Snaggletooth]

I've had the same problem. I asked the guys at the post office if i could get a total for everything i've put through my card and they told me i needed to register the card on line. I've had the card for nearly 2 years now and i don't know of any way of registering it on line.
They also tell me that i should be receiving emails with offers and deals. Again, 2 years and not a thing.

Bit crap.

You would have received offers by email if a (correct & current) email address was taken from you when the clerk signed you up. It's not about you writing it on the form, it's about the clerk typing it in. The importance of this was not made clear to clerks at first, typing it in is optional within the process and the process of data entry for this is very clunky.

The online functionality always seemed to be 'coming soon' but never arrive. For both issues, I would call PO customer services on 03457 22 33 44.

[danceonline]

Well, a whole year later and the online top-up service is still not available. I read on another forum that the Royal Mail attempted to launch it in 2014 and it failed miserably, at which point they told customers that it would be "postponed".
So come on Royal Mail, get your act together - or is the "postponement" indefinite - i.e. you've simply given up on it? If anyone from RM staff monitors these posts, how about an update, otherwise we customers are just talking to each other here. What's the point of that?
As I write this, I just received a phone call from my local post office saying that my balance was too low for them to process my latest drop. It used to be that they would still process it and you would refund them the next time, but that no longer seems to be the case. So now I have to queue tomorrow just to top up my card - therefore wasting more time than if I'd simply queued in the first place.
An incomplete service, nowhere near as useful as it could be. What a shame.

[Snaggletooth]

Well, a whole year later and the online top-up service is still not available. I read on another forum that the Royal Mail attempted to launch it in 2014 and it failed miserably, at which point they told customers that it would be "postponed".

I still worked for the Post Office in 2014 and AFAIK this service was not rolled out to all customers, though I might have heard that it was on trial with "selected" customers.

So come on Royal Mail, get your act together - or is the "postponement" indefinite - i.e. you've simply given up on it? If anyone from RM staff monitors these posts, how about an update, otherwise we customers are just talking to each other here. What's the point of that?

Actually, it's a Post Office product, not a Royal Mail one. And I don't recall any official comments in this forum by anyone who works for RM or the PO, just staff, ex-staff and customers trying to help each other. If you want to get an official answer, maybe the Post Office twitter feed would be a good place to go? Top brass care more about comments made on there than comments made in any other way. Particularly if you state clearly that you run a small business.

As I write this, I just received a phone call from my local post office saying that my balance was too low for them to process my latest drop. It used to be that they would still process it and you would refund them the next time, but that no longer seems to be the case. So now I have to queue tomorrow just to top up my card - therefore wasting more time than if I'd simply queued in the first place.

This is the correct process. If the IOU was caught at a surprise audit (they do happen) then the staff could be in a lot of trouble.

[danceonline]

If you want to get an official answer, maybe the Post Office twitter feed would be a good place to go? Top brass care more about comments made on there than comments made in any other way. Particularly if you state clearly that you run a small business.

I just posted on Twitter, let's see what they reply. Kind of hard to explain my point in 128 charachers though...