To think corner shops with Post Offices resent Post Office customers

[GivenchyDahhling]

Whilst on maternity leave I’ve been selling a lot of clothes on eBay. I use eBay’s postage label service then drop the parcels off at the Post Office. I normally go into town and use the main Post Office in the WHSmith but occasionally use the Post Office in walking distance (think it’s in a Londis or similar).

I have always found the couple who run this rude, unsmiling and unhelpful and they act like providing any Post Office service is the biggest inconvenience to them, but things came to a head today when I was told they would no longer be accepting my pre-paid labels because “they’re Royal Mail, not Post Office” (??)

I argued about this as I think if they’re using Post Office branding they have no right to do this. They claim it’s because of the space; but when I’ve used them it’s never more than 3 or 4 small parcels (ie containing a dress or a top) as I only use this branch when I’m walking. After a bit of research it looks like the real reason is because they don’t make any money for accepting these pre-paid labels, whereas if I bought postage there they would get a percentage.

Anyway; I started thinking about other Post Offices and again since I’ve been using eBay I’ve used four other similar corner shop outlets (just based on where I’ve happened to be) and all of them have been pretty unfriendly.

So AIBU to think that these shops resent providing (non profit making) postal services? And to think that if they are so unhappy about it they shouldn’t be a Post Office franchise?

I'm not sure how much choice the Post Offices have Goaty?

I think its fair enough they say no to providing a free service (which costs them in time etc, and adds to queues for paying customers).

That's what the OP is complaining about, the withdrawal of a free service from a business she doesn't contribute to...and it fact goes out of her way not to contribute to... by ordering the postage online, printing out the labels etc to save 10p a parcel...10p that should be going to the Post Office.

I sneak in sweets/drink (usually water) into the rare visit to a cinema, which, yes deny's them that income stream, but I do pay for a cinema ticket at least...I don't expect them to give me a free ticket because the film is running anyway...so what's the loss to them?

Yes the OP is being unreasonable in my opinion.

and it fact goes out of her way not to contribute to

When I print postage at home it means I am 'going out of my way' to avoid unnecessary queuing for stamps and the faff of sticking each one on the various different items (and the incredibly tiresome hardsell for unnecessary but coincidentally more expensive services by the clerk).

Nothing as sinister as your evil plot theory.

Then you won't mind if the post office staff don't go out of their way for you buzz? Seems fair to me.
I don't use the post office much as we have a postal service at my work, but I think is a job with very long hours for little profit (for the small independent ones not in town/city centres, and dealing with the general public would be my idea of hell (also see threads by shop assistants and the crap they have to put up with from the general public) plus not many jobs where you might be robbed at gun or knife point.
I would love to see Post Offices remain, and that means we have to pay to use them.

YANBU. We had a tiny Post Office in our village that was run by a lovely lady for years which also sold newspapers and chocolate bars and other bits and bobs, but you couldn't swing a cat in there or fit a pushchair in but she was so helpful. The PO then wanted her to be open until late evening which she didn't want to do so she sold up the shop. The PO was then put inside a corner shop which was already open until late evening anyway, and the couple there treated everyone like an inconvenience. If they wanted footfall to increase sales elsewhere in their store, then they certainly weren't going to get it with their poor customer service skills. They completely ignored the timings they were supposed to be open, didn't give postage receipts because he'd "just closed the till" and were generally as unhelpful as possible. After lots of complaints the PO was removed and now our village hasn't had one for a few years.

I did click and collect at my local post office. I went in 3 times looking for it. A birthday present for my son
Chaos wouldn't cut it 😡
Yes birthday present. 3 weeks before.
Never again. This is inner London 🙄🙄

Our local Co-op took on a post office counter, making a big song and dance about how it would be open whenever the shop was. This would be fabulously convenient if it were actually true - the last three times I’ve been up there with parcels there has been nobody working who is trained to do the post office side of things. They shouldn’t advertise what they can’t provide.

Don't worry, pretty sure Post offices will be a thing of the past in the next decade or so. Such little money in offering post office services, more hassle than it's worth.

I have two post office counters close to me, one is only open till noon and inside a corner shop, the other is inside a coop and open the same hours as the shop. Both are really good, although the corner shop can’t take parcels, but they do sell stamps and deal with special letters etc.
However, the next closest are CROWN post offices and utterly horrible - apparently you are causing huge issues if you dare to ask them to do their jobs. And woe betide you if you don’t also buy a birthday card, 6 rolls of string and half a dozen large packing boxes alongside your postage.
The only other one we have is in a WHSmiths - to be avoided at all costs. Queues out the door, there is no self service and the “travel money etc” bit is only for people to swap money and sort car insurance, the girl will sit and file her nails rather than help out with the queues!

Yep, get evil looks if I go in our local shop for post office service but don't buy anything else. Result? I avoid the shop as much as possible,

PS as they would no doubt say themselves "I am not a charity".

Good grief. I always buy postage in the local ppst office when I sell stuff on ebay, so that they get their 10p cut on the transaction. Funnily enough, they're cheerful and helpful to me when I print my parcels in.

YABU.

*bring my parcels in

Yanbu, I’ve found this to a degree after having a bad experience with an in-shop Post Office as a teenager.

In my teens I was a frequent user of Swapit (www.swapit.co.uk), then SwapitShop, a buy and sell website like eBay but for under-18s and instead of using real money, Swapits was the currency spent. Unlike eBay, for privacy and confidentiality reasons they didn’t give the buyer’s address so all parcels of SwapitShop transactions bearing the transaction number had to be sent to the SwapitShop post room with some forwarding stamps to the value of the same amount used to post it.

I was posting something the subject of a SwapitShop transaction when I was nearly 15 and when purchasing postage I tried to explain I needed to purchase some additional forwarding stamps to the value of the postage cost. The post clerk said “You don’t need additional stamps!” despite trying to explain the situation as best as I could so I ended up paying for one set of postage. Some additional stamps of the postage value were posted two days later with the transaction number on the envelope so that SwapitShop knew which parcel they were for. I told SwapitShop of the situation - who were very good about it - and I also made a complaint about it to Royal Mail. Conversely I found the big Post Office in town were very gracious about SwapitShop transactions.

The Post Office does have some staff who are as miserable as sin. Yet it’s my fault as the customer that they have to do their job.

Mine now won’t take parcels in a weekend (they are open sat and sun), which is the only time I can go....

I totally agree OP and I have had the same experience. It annoys me- why bloody have the counter if it pisses you off so much!

would it kill you to buy a pint of milk or a Mars Bar or something while you are there so that you add a tiny bit to their profitability

Bollocks to this. Why should I try to boost profitability for people who are rude, unpleasant, surly and not very polite to me? the first rule of customer service is to be polite and friendly. If you arent doing that, dont complain when your customer base dwindles. Its really very basic business sense. You get out of people what you put in. If their customer service is shit they dont deserve to be successful.

As another poster said, they are under no obligation to provide a service which they get no benefit from. I don't blame them at all for being irritable. They're taking time out from serving other customers and managing their shop to serve you, providing you with receipts etc, none of which they receive any remuneration for.