Post office etiquette

[dancingonthedaisydrops]

So lighthearted one but genuinely not sure what to do...

I've had a huge declutter and sold around 30 things on eBay & want to post them today (work/children mean I can't go any other week days). What is the etiquette about posting so many items? AIBU to do it in one go? I feel like the whole town would hate me...Queue again every x number of items to avoid holding up the queue? Leave half in my car so I can exit half way through and re queue? My husband says to just send all 30 but I've previously sent 6 at Christmas and felt people were tutting and rolling their eyes so this is a whole other level!

Do them all in one go, but perhaps choose a quieter time (ie not lunchtime or just before closing time).

Send all 30, unless it's a small post office with just one assistant.

I'd send them all in one go. No way would I be faffing about to and fro.

Try your best to pick a quiet time but just send them all in one go.

I'd pay for the postage online so that you just need to drop them off rather than weigh, print, stick, pay etc with everyone waiting.

Take them all in, and offer to stand aside at regular intervals if people are waiting

It's business for them, if they kick up a sink just mutter that you should've used FedEx!

I wouldn’t go just before closing , just stand aside and let someone go ahead if it’s super busy

At Christmas I was behind a man in the PO who must have had friends in every country in the world. He had to have each card weighed individually and it took ages. But he was absolutely within his rights to take his time and post his cards and the rest of us in the queue just had to be patient. With that in mind I would say to just take all the parcels at once.

Just do it all online and then simply drop the parcels off.

Can you print off labels on line and take them to a parcel post box - we have 2 in our town?

Or look at using the Post Office drop and go service in future?

Hate waiting behind people doing more than half a dozen parcels. I know we are all customers, but when you just want to pop in on the school run, it is a pain... Like when you go to the pharmacy and the person in front is picking up for 5 people and has a complicated query at the end.

Do you have a post office near you with self-serve machines?

I think ebay gives you opportunity to pay for a print labels from home (possibly at a discount? Dont quote me on that!)
So you could print them and stick on with tape, which will make it much quicker at the PO as you just have to hand them over and they may need to weigh them, but dont have to wait for printing labels and paying.

Alternatively I would go to a big post office where they have multiple tills, so at least the queue can continue to move behind you.

Agreed it’s annoying and i’d be seething. But I guess it’s only the same as joining a long queue with 30 customers in it.

Do you have anxiety? You’re overthinking something mundane.

Just do it. I couldn’t care less about holding people up as I wait in lengthy post office queues myself 99% of the time I’m there. Give and take surely? You possibly will get tutting, who cares? It’s understandably annoying for other people, but you haven’t done anything wrong so just let them m and noises and ignore them, realistically their opinion is irrelevant especially as you won’t see them again.

If your local post office is small, visit a larger one instead? No one will notice you taking longer if there’s staff available to serve other customers. Go at a quiet time too.

You actually can pay for and print (tracked) postage labels online at home. It’s cheaper and saves time at the post office as all they need to do is scan the barcode and stamp your paperwork.

Perhaps check with post office as some smaller post offices only accept so many parcels at a time.

Do it all at once. If there is a particularly frail elderly person or screaming baby behind you in the queue then let them go in front of you, but you have every right to be there keeping them in business.

some smaller post offices only accept so many parcels at a time

Really, is that a thing? No wonder post offices are closing every day if they are turning away business.

I no longer have a local PO but I know it's not because of that rule, I regularly saw people posting huge numbers of parcels, I agree with going at a quiet time if you can to consider others.

Just do it. How do you do your supermarket shop, in dribs and drabs or just put everything on the conveyor to pay for in one go? Use a main PO though as some of the sub POs with only one counter are staffed by little Hitlers. Stamp selling megalomaniacs!

Send them as usual. I do the same, though not 30 lol.
I normally have about 5-7 parcel if lucky..
I had people in front of me posting tens of parcels and I had to wait too.
And my post office has one person only as it is based in Budgens..

So I went to the post office....

I did half and return to car then the other half as there was a large queue forming behind me!

In response to questions- There is 1 post office in a small village and it has a single counter.

I went as soon as they opened hoping it'd be quiet but it took almost an hour in total!

Only on mumsnet would asking lightheadedly what you'd do, would you be asked if you have anxiety issues I was just curious what others would do & didn't want to do something totally socially unacceptable!

And off I go to continue my decluttering efforts...(I'm trying to follow the minimalists 31 day challenge...it's amazing and given me the kick I need to sort out house out if anyone's looking for something similar)

@JigsawsAreInPieces this made me chuckle. So true. The post office in the next village is just like this. I arrived at 4.40pm (it closed 5pm) to post a single parcel last year. The man behind the counter had a go at me and said people nowadays turn up at closing and have no respect for his time or his plans (it doesn't take 20 minutes to post a single parcel!). He then said he was going to make a dart board with peoples faces who turn up near closing including mine I thought he was joking- I laughed. He didn't. Needless to say, I no longer use that post office/send DH if we have to...

Just do it all online and then simply drop the parcels off

Do not do that- they get a pittance when people do this rathe than join the queue to post at the counter and this is why local post offices are closing.

My post office hate people who do this, they say it is ruining them and always tell people (but most are arses who don't listen)

My post office hate people who do this, they say it is ruining them and always tell people (but most are arses who don't listen)

In that case, they should employ more staff to actually serve the customers.