Question for Post Office employees

[butters]

Hi,

I have just had a huge clearout on eBay, as a consequence I have a lot of parcels to post.

If I prepay to postage online and fill out a proof of posting sheet (I have a proof of posting book) can I just dump the parcels with the PO and get them to stamp the proof of posting certificate?

At the moment I am just taking parcels to the PO and paying for it there which is not ideal as I have to go the main PO in town where parking is difficult and I don't like holding up the queue while my parcels are being processed.

Essentially what I am asking is, what is the most efficient way of sending lots of parcels?

I did look into postal collections but they do not offer proof of posting

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

-x- Hannah -x-

edit, they are all being sent standard 1st class

[Dogs of War]

Royal Mail postage online where you print the postage out but everything has to right size and weight.

[pinstripe]

Going to set myself up for a fall here, but, depending on the weight and size of your packets you may want to book a collection with a courier (parcel monkey are cheap and use DHL among others). Of course, if they are small/light, then your best option would be RM. Don't worry about holding up the queue, it's not your fault that they closed hundreds of PO's.
By the way, 6 monhs ago, I would never have suggested using a competitor.

[Pickle]

I also used a website called parcel2go.co.uk to send 4 alloy wheels. Parcelforce quoted me £156 to send them. I got them sent via DHL through the parcel2go site for £36. If a rival company can do it for this much less, were in a sinkin ship.

[pinstripe]

I also used a website called parcel2go.co.uk to send 4 alloy wheels. Parcelforce quoted me £156 to send them. I got them sent via DHL through the parcel2go site for £36. If a rival company can do it for this much less, were in a sinkin ship.

Just goes to show that it pays to shop around, but, surely WE should be able to offer the most competitive price as we are the largest company.

[butters]

Hi, thanks for the replies,

I have scales so the weight will be exact. Like I mentioned I looked into the collection option but they don't give any proof of posting All the parcels are smallish clothing parcels of RM is the best value.

If I turn up with a parcel already paid for (online), printed and stuck on the parcel - and with a pre filled proof of posting certificate, from a purely administrative point of view what will the PO staff have to do? Will they just take it from me and stamp the proof of posting or will they have to weigh it and print of a receipt regardless?

Thanks in advance

-x- Hannah -x-

[TrueBlueTerrier]

There is a drawback to using the pre-pay option in that the local PO will not receive any commission on the transaction.

Also as most of the replies are from Blue Shirts rather than Counter Staff I will move this in the section where some Counter Staff will see it. They work iwith this type of stuff every day so will have better and more up to date info.

[butters]

There is a drawback to using the pre-pay option in that the local PO will not receive any commission on the transaction.

Also as most of the replies are from Blue Shirts rather than Counter Staff I will move this in the section where some Counter Staff will see it. They work iwith this type of stuff every day so will have better and more up to date info.

Thanks for moving it.

I know the local PO don't make any money from prepay and up till now I pay at the counter but I have been told I should use the main town PO at both my local grumpy sub-post office's even though I have made sure I only go at non-peak hours, I would rather the money went through to keep them alive but if they don't want my custom then I will not go out of my way to help them out.

I figure the main town PO don't really need the extra cash as they won't be closed so I will prepay with them. Would apprectiate any counter staff letting me about the question in my previous post, thanks in advance

[clockworkjerk]

.

[The BFO]

People with tons of post are my fave customer, seriously, I always make sure I get them.

Why, because usually they are alright to speak too, especially the few ones who spend ages with their records and I could just talk music for like 2 hours, but mainly because if I got lucky and have a few of them in a day, that would equal half of my day, and then to reply to anything sales I can go "well I had him and you saw me with him for ages....."

You go to a Post Office to Post things, if you have many items, it's not your problem, it's the Post Office's, their getting the unhappy customers by not having adequate staff, I mean you could unbelievably unlucky and draw a day when loads of staff are "ill" and its just two people on the counter which did happen to me once, but I didn't really care, there were two FSS's and a Manager round the front who I sent all the slack too. "Yeah dude, I'm obviously working with this customer, you'll probably find someone in the front there who's employed by us and isn't doing jack, talk to them"

The FSS's then had the balls to say that their not here to deal with queue complaints in the next meeting, rofl, cry me a river. Never got on with any of the non-Counter trained FSS' who were lazy as f**k, at least the ones who came from the counter would ALWAYS come round and help on the counter. They were also better at sales as well....

I commend this post most favourably. This person should be knighted, and given Mr Crozier’s job. Simply brilliant – and so true…

[billyhayes]

People with tons of post are my fave customer, seriously, I always make sure I get them.

Why, because usually they are alright to speak too, especially the few ones who spend ages with their records and I could just talk music for like 2 hours, but mainly because if I got lucky and have a few of them in a day, that would equal half of my day, and then to reply to anything sales I can go "well I had him and you saw me with him for ages....."

You go to a Post Office to Post things, if you have many items, it's not your problem, it's the Post Office's, their getting the unhappy customers by not having adequate staff, I mean you could unbelievably unlucky and draw a day when loads of staff are "ill" and its just two people on the counter which did happen to me once, but I didn't really care, there were two FSS's and a Manager round the front who I sent all the slack too. "Yeah dude, I'm obviously working with this customer, you'll probably find someone in the front there who's employed by us and isn't doing jack, talk to them"

The FSS's then had the balls to say that their not here to deal with queue complaints in the next meeting, rofl, cry me a river. Never got on with any of the non-Counter trained FSS' who were lazy as f**k, at least the ones who came from the counter would ALWAYS come round and help on the counter. They were also better at sales as well....

I commend this post most favourably. This person should be knighted, and given Mr Crozier’s job. Simply brilliant – and so true…

Agreed!

[subbie]

Hi Hannah
I am a Sub Postmaster of 22 years experience, and before that a Postal Officer of 10 years experience. E-Bay customers are certainly a welcome phenomenon, and their volumes of postings at the Sub Office literally keeps the Sub Office Network going. However due to the incredibly poor programming of our computerised tills Sub Postmasters cannot serve you quickly enough.
Turning to Postage online is not the answer. Its your paper, its your ink, its your fee to pay for the program, and you gain nothing as Postmasters have to check your postage as if you were paying for it over the counter.So what's the point?

The answer is for you to talk to your Postmaster, agree an amount of postage that you will get through in a week, give the Postmaster that amount in cash, and then he/she can just take in your mail whenever you call, no queuing, this allows the Postmaster to process your mail when there is a quite moment, and you can get on with your life. You can call back on an agreed date to pick up your change and receipts and then fund your account for the next week. This system has worked well in my PO ever since Postage labels were invented. Please remember the Postmaster is not allowed to grant you any credit, so please do not ask. This system only works if you are prepared to pre-fund your postage with your local Postmaster.

Hope this helps
Subbie

[PostalOfficer]

Clockworkjerk, I like getting the Ebayers as well, usually well organised, know what to do and pleasant.

I went through the rules for prepaid online postage one day. Loads of variations, but I'm sure subbie is correct that you have to check either the postage or the weight/size (there's different sorts of labels). Seem to think you were supposed to put it through the computer system if customer wants a proof of posting. That way even though we take no money, it's recorded as one packet processed. Takes just as long as selling the postage. Otherwise we do the work and get no credit for the time spent with the customer.

Then there's always one packet marked for 200g that weighs 250g and the customer has a tantrum when you tell them we can't make it up with stamps; they have to take it back, reclaim the label and start again. Then there's the customer who selects Special Delivery, but doesn't tell us and leaves us to spot the feint markings. Then it has to go through the computer anyway to get the number on the system, which means we might have just as well done the whole job anyway.

For the above reasons and more my colleagues hate online postage. As far as I'm concerned I'd rather you bring the packets in to me and let me do the whole job. Relax a bit while I do the work and the ink and paper is free!

[norbert]

and the ink and paper is free!
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Very good point about Ink & Paper for Ebayer's , your margins can be very small and Inkjet Cartridges are so expensive , you can only get away with refilling some Canon cartridges twice , they've chipped them to stop them being refilled and you've to hope the Printer wants to play with a refilled cartridge from the likes of Ink Express .

Manually refilling them is another option but the cartridges have to be cleaned and left overnight , then there's the matter of making sure the ink goes into the cartridge and not on you .

http://www.pcworld.com/article/112199/w ... _much.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/rip- ... urky-Math/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sax]

This is probably a bit too late to help (sorry!), but if you print your postage online, for 25p extra you can use "Fast Drop" at selected Post Offices.
There's an FAQ about it here:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... 5#fastdrop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edit: Ooohh... And there's a thread about it here.