Large order meant Hereford's main po ran out of stamps

[Lounge Lizard]

Cos we are paid more to sell a label than we are to sell stamps. Remember we are only paid if we sell things, we are not salaried.
It took a while for all subbies to work it out, but now days hardly any sub office will put postage stamps on mail items, when a label will do.
Admittedly this takes longer because the Horizon kit is crap, and that is why there are queues, but labels are where the income is.

Subbie

That's interesting. I didn't know that.
I remember that when retail outlets other than Post Offices started selling stamp books they bought them at 5% below face value. Is it the same profit for sub Post Offices now ? And can I ask what you make for selling a Horizon postage label, and do you have to buy the blank labels or are they supplied free ?

[subbie]

I think retailers can buy stamps at a better margin than Subbies are paid for selling them, but of course the retailer has to buy a large amount up front, whereas subbies are supplied the stock. We get 5p for selling a 1st class stamp.

When it comes to labels we get paid 37.7p for selling a 1st class label, but you cannot use a label for item weighing less than 100g. POL supply all the labels etc.
However the software we have to use to print a label called "Smartpost" is Sooooo slow it is not an enjoyable experience for Subbies or customers, and it is not e-bay or mail shot conducive.
With a proper system we could dramatically improve the speed of service and cope with more volume of traffic.
But then our systems are procured by people who have never run a business let alone work on a PO counter.

Subbie

[Lounge Lizard]

I think retailers can buy stamps at a better margin than Subbies are paid for selling them, but of course the retailer has to buy a large amount up front, whereas subbies are supplied the stock. We get 5p for selling a 1st class stamp.

When it comes to labels we get paid 37.7p for selling a 1st class label, but you cannot use a label for item weighing less than 100g. POL supply all the labels etc.
However the software we have to use to print a label called "Smartpost" is Sooooo slow it is not an enjoyable experience for Subbies or customers, and it is not e-bay or mail shot conducive.
With a proper system we could dramatically improve the speed of service and cope with more volume of traffic.
But then our systems are procured by people who have never run a business let alone work on a PO counter.

Subbie

That sounds bizarre to me. So if you use a Horizon Label for a second class large letter costing 81p you get 37.7p (47%) of that leaving just 43.3p (53%) for Royal Mail to get it all the way to the destination ?

[subbie]

No Lounge

I said the 37.7p was for a first class label, it is around 50% less for second class labels. POL do not like us selling anything second class, so the rates are set low for selling second class postage stamps as well as labels.

We used to get paid as a percentage of the total value of the items postage, good if you handled a lot of overseas mail and heavy parcels, but now we have changed to this fixed fee system, which works well if you handle large volumes of light weight domestic mail. If we upgrade the customer to premium services such as Special Del, or signed for, there are further increases to add on to the label price.

Postage income is the only way most PO's are hanging on in there. RM do well out of us as we convert a lot of people to SD who would not have normally considered it.
Subbie

[BELIAL]

But I thought everybody did everything via the interweb these days

[Lounge Lizard]

No Lounge

I said the 37.7p was for a first class label, it is around 50% less for second class labels. POL do not like us selling anything second class, so the rates are set low for selling second class postage stamps as well as labels.

We used to get paid as a percentage of the total value of the items postage, good if you handled a lot of overseas mail and heavy parcels, but now we have changed to this fixed fee system, which works well if you handle large volumes of light weight domestic mail. If we upgrade the customer to premium services such as Special Del, or signed for, there are further increases to add on to the label price.

Postage income is the only way most PO's are hanging on in there. RM do well out of us as we convert a lot of people to SD who would not have normally considered it.
Subbie

Thanks, all very interesting.
I missed your point about first class, but you get the same 37p for a 96p large letter as a much heavier item costing significantly more.

[subbie]

Yes we do Lounge, but so far it does seem to work in our favour.

Subbie

[Lounge Lizard]

Yes we do Lounge, but so far it does seem to work in our favour.

Subbie

So, you get the same 37.7p commission for each first class horizon label over 100g whether it be for 96p, £8.22 or even more, but what about selling stamps ? Surely they can't pay you the same for selling a 1p stamp as a £1.46 stamp, so is it a given percentage of face value for all stamps sold ?
And when Sub post office businesses are advertised for sale there might be mention of a say £50,000 Royal Mail ''Salary'. Is the word 'Salary' used for what is otherwise generally understood as commission on all the business you carry out for them ?

[subbie]

You are right Lounge postage stamps are paid as a % of the value, but it is a very low % and to boot most of the range of stamps have been deleted, so you would struggle to find enough stamps to put on an item that did not conform to first tier postage rates. This is intentional in order to persuade Subbies to use labels, which in turn helps RM with the sorting process, and saves RM printing costs of what was a large and varied range of stamps, now they just have to print a small range.

Postmasters do not receive a "salary" (I too see the ads quoting a PO salary, but the term is misleading) we get paid a "remuneration" or as I prefer to call it, a varying budget, to run our PO.
This budget is based on the transaction payment we receive for every transaction that the Branch performs. Our problem is that every time we "up" our sales, POL moves the goalposts by reducing the transaction payments, so our pay fails to keep ahead of our overheads.
Before a Postmaster gets to keep anything POL pay to the Branch he/she has to pay for staff, heat light, rent or mortgage, fixtures and fittings, losses, and if there is anything left after all that then that is what the Postmaster keeps.

I have seen PO remunerations of circa £80k leaving the Postmaster with less than £12k to actually bank as their own pay.
Most of us earn a living from our private retail side businesses.

Subbie

[Lounge Lizard]

You are right Lounge postage stamps are paid as a % of the value, but it is a very low % and to boot most of the range of stamps have been deleted, so you would struggle to find enough stamps to put on an item that did not conform to first tier postage rates. This is intentional in order to persuade Subbies to use labels, which in turn helps RM with the sorting process, and saves RM printing costs of what was a large and varied range of stamps, now they just have to print a small range.

Postmasters do not receive a "salary" (I too see the ads quoting a PO salary, but the term is misleading) we get paid a "remuneration" or as I prefer to call it, a varying budget, to run our PO.
This budget is based on the transaction payment we receive for every transaction that the Branch performs. Our problem is that every time we "up" our sales, POL moves the goalposts by reducing the transaction payments, so our pay fails to keep ahead of our overheads.
Before a Postmaster gets to keep anything POL pay to the Branch he/she has to pay for staff, heat light, rent or mortgage, fixtures and fittings, losses, and if there is anything left after all that then that is what the Postmaster keeps.

I have seen PO remunerations of circa £80k leaving the Postmaster with less than £12k to actually bank as their own pay.
Most of us earn a living from our private retail side businesses.

Subbie

Thanks, very interesting. I knew making a living from such a business isn't as easy now but hadn't realised the way the system works and is how it is changing for the worst. Good luck.