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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I just went to the post office with an eBay parcel - AIBU? Apparently so!

45 replies

Piffpaffpoff · 27/06/2011 16:29

Turns out, according to the lady behind the counter, i may be singlehandedly responsible for 'killing post offices'. I had used the 'print postage online' option so was just handing the parcels in and getting my proof of postage stamped. The lady told me that she made no money out of this and that I was killing her business. AIBU to be slightly hacked off by this, given that I think she herself has killed any chance of me bringing her any other business, either at her PO counter or her attached shop?

OP posts:
PrinceHumperdink · 27/06/2011 16:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Flisspaps · 27/06/2011 16:31

YANBU

HaveToWearHeels · 27/06/2011 16:32

I had the same response from Post Office worker a few weeks ago. Pissed me right off !

TrilllianAstra · 27/06/2011 16:33

Royal Mail allows you to print off postage online, and get proof of posting at the Post Office.

The lady behind the counter can be pissed off at Royal Mail if she likes.

But if you have to queue up anyway you might as well buy the postage at the counter.

JumpOnIt · 27/06/2011 16:33

No, YANBU!!! That really is a good way of driving off potential customers. She may be right that on-line services mean that she is receiving less custom but that is true across the board for a lot of businesses. I suspect it's her own bad attitude doing the damage!

Abra1d · 27/06/2011 16:34

I don't blame you for being a bit taken aback, but she's right, in a way. The eBay facility to print off and pay at home means the PO has to take in the parcel but not get any of the rewards.

Abra1d · 27/06/2011 16:36

Trouble is, that sometimes you have to be quite blunt with people (not you, OP, I'm sure you don't need blunt talk) or they don't take the point. In my line of business (not the PO) I am expected to be so well paid that I can give away my work for free. And I'm not!

There is good blunt and bad blunt, though.

MotivatedSperm · 27/06/2011 16:36

I just typed out a long winded response pointing out that YANBU and a list of things you should've said retrospectively. I've deleted it now. Instead I think you should sneak out in the dead of night and poo on her doorstep leaving the price of a first class stamp with it!

RitaMorgan · 27/06/2011 16:40

You're hardly going to start paying for postage there now! Treating your customers like that isn't going to be good for her business either.

Original poster
Piffpaffpoff · 27/06/2011 16:42

I do see her point, but there are possibly better ways of putting it. Calling someone a business-murderer is not the best customer-retention strategy I've come across lately :-).

OP posts:
Playdohinthewashingmachine · 27/06/2011 16:42

She could have asked, in a polite friendly way, if you knew that her post office business doesn't make any money from these transactions, and asked you to consider paying for postage in the old-fashioned way. That would've been ok!

Deaddei · 27/06/2011 16:44

Do you go to my post office, with the rudest woman in the world?
Tutsi her way through every transaction, bellows "don't take it off the scales yet" and has generally zero knowledge regarding customer service.
I would try and sell LOTS and take her masses of parcels for proof of postage.

stealthsquiggle · 27/06/2011 16:48

If they don't make any money out of it, why do they do it? Surely they must get paid something for handling the parcel Confused?

..but yes, OP, I agree, a chatty "did you know..." and a gentle "since you have to queue any way, it would be just as quick to..." would have been a whole lot better. The sub-postmistress in our local PO gave me such a gentle telling off about something similar that it was only half way home that I realised I had been told off - clearly she should give lessons!

Andrewofgg · 27/06/2011 16:51

YANBU and a firm "that is my business" would have been appropriate.

Andrewofgg · 27/06/2011 16:52

One fine day we will be able to pay for train tickets and print them without standing in a queue as we do coach tickets. I expect the National Union of Bloody-minded Uninformed and Uninformative Ticket Clerks will be pissed off about that too.

garlicnutter · 27/06/2011 16:55

YANBU - but I didn't know about this and will buy Proper Stamps in future.

Original poster
Piffpaffpoff · 27/06/2011 16:55

To be fair, she did say 'do you know we could have done this for you' and I said 'yes but I like to do it online so that I have an electronic record of all my transactions' and then she started on her slight rant.

Thankfully it's not my usual PO so I'm not there very often. Never again now.

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 27/06/2011 16:57

Andrewofgg - you can now (or was that your point?)

stressheaderic · 27/06/2011 17:03

No chance of any business-murdering in my area - I queued up behind 29 people this morning to hand my parcels in.
Has anyone noticed the quite aggresive upselling at the PO counter lately?
Me: One.1st class stamp please"
PO woman: "Here you go. Are you off on your hols this year?
Me: (presuming she was just being friendly) Oh yes, we're going to Majorca
PO woman: (with chi-ching face) Oh in that case, have you heard about our passport checking service, credit card, personal loan, money exchange, travel insurance, other rip off services.........
Me:

I wish there was a self-serve parcel machine in our town, like there is in some bigger POs I've visited.

Andrewofgg · 27/06/2011 17:12

stealthsquiggle you wonderful person, tell me more, is there a link you can post, you may save me hours standing around, I love you for ever and ever!

thursday · 27/06/2011 17:14

depends on the post office. the main one in town is staffed by rude people obsessed with upselling. i wish they'd just be upfront about it and say 'i'd like to tell you about our travel insurance if you're going abroad?' rather than disguising it as conversation. i had to swelter in the queue for 10 minutes behind one person today because she was asked 'got any holiday plans?' as a lead in and then had to listen to the woman go on and on and on about some auntie's bunion because the poor cow thought the cashier was actually making conversation. i'm sick of her asking me if i'm going abroad every week and then telling me about free childrens insurance even after i say no, i wish.

but i have friends who run a village PO and its a devil to stay in business and people could make all the difference if only they knew they were destroying something they would sorely miss. obviously there's no need to be rude though and YANBU to use services on offer.

thursday · 27/06/2011 17:17

ha, i didn't read the whole thread before i started my rant.

stealthsquiggle · 27/06/2011 17:19

whoa, andrewofgg ...this will be where I find it is only in some places Blush. However, any ticket you can book through trainline you can collect from a self-service machine, and some (most? definitely Virgin ones) you can choose to print yourself.

However, I never take this option, as I find collecting them from a self-service machine avoids the interaction with nasty unfriendly counter staff and is then easier as the self-print ones mean you have to produce your credit card along with your ticket all the time..

Andrewofgg · 27/06/2011 17:21

Bless you for ever, stealthsquiggle!

kaid100 · 27/06/2011 18:59

I think that she did it all wrong by basically saying "You nasty person have been doing this nasty thing to ruin me" when a better approach would have been "A word to the wise, here is how you can help the local community businesses instead of all your money going to some faceless corporation..."