To think that the post office doesn’t deserve our loyalty

[Missedvocation]

Not talking about Royal Mail.

With the news that the post office is seeking to closure 115 more of its unprofitable shops, am I being unreasonable to think that we should move on from the post office?

I understand that the PO provides vital services, but it’s an appalling business model. The town based post offices are enormous shops with no stock apart from empty boxes on shelves, and the staff are universally rude/expectant/arrogant - no sense of customer service. The organisation smacks of what it is - a former public sector organisation that feels like visiting a council office. You’re made to feel like an idiot when sending a parcel, Lincoln city post office will only change money into US dollars (tried getting Australian dollars two days ago and just stared at and told (no.).

The future surely lies in village shops that have a PO counter at the normal till - where staff actually give a shite about their business because they own it.

not knocking postmasters who have clearly been through a lot with the horizon candle - just reflecting that this antiquated organisation needs to die.

It's not been my experience, on a whole. I moved around a lot in the last 10 years and every post office I visited provided a good service. I haven't' tried exchanging money at one but dealing with anything else was always problem-free and staff at our current local branch is amazing. As is staff at a big branch in the city.
There are some issues with stock in the last two months, for some reason.

I don’t think any service ‘deserves’ our loyalty.

tbh loyalty to the post office and NHS and things like that enable reallly bad service because customers will put up with and excuse anything out of loyalty

Oh god, I absolutely avoid ever going to the Post Office as our local ones are so bad, I genuinely feel rage when I have to go to one.

I agree. All our local ones are just in corner shops now, much better.
The PO in the nearest large town is horrible- rude staff and always a long queue, don't go in there anymore after being in the queue for ages then getting to the front and being told the money exchange wasn't available!! A sign on the counter would have been helpful!
I think there should be post office counters in supermarkets

Sub-post offices almost all lovely people and helpful. Crown post offices almost always a model of bad customer service.

I know which I want to keep.

The Post Office started to decline when part of the Royal Mail and Adam Crozier was in charge. The man missing from the drama about the sub-postmaster persecution, presumably because he then became chairman of ITV.

Splitting post offices from the Royal Mail never made any sense and still doesn't.

I find they really vary. My closest two are fine for simple things, but once when I was sending a parcel return and had to buy the label separately, the woman dealing with it, after asking 'what's inside it?', said it would be ~15. It was a domestic parcel within the UK, of reasonable weight (it was shoes) but not super heavy or super large. I queried this and was told that yes, I could have it cheaper (~7), but then I wouldn't get insurance and tracking - but I hadn't asked for insurance and tracking! It would have been fine (and normal) to ask me, but not fine and normal to automatically add it.

The other woman and the guy who's there I've had no issues with, and even Upsell Lady is fine for other things.

Never been to a post office in years

Lincoln post office was particularly from 10 years ago. Is it still in that gritty shopping arcade.

It was stuck in the 70s and was very brown.

Remember going in because my passport needed renewing and I was l looked at like I had 2 heads.

Our local PO is in WHSmith. They have a billion posters telling you how many amazing services they offer but usually 1 fairly useless person behind a counter and 1 person rushing about like a blue arsed fly helping people with the self service machines, accepting Amazon returns, getting parcels for people, and helping the person behind the counter. And now there are no banks they are meant to fill in for them as well. I feel sorry for the people who work there. Luckily I don't need to go there very often.

I have near me- a Crown Post Office that is always stupidly busy, with rude/useless staff and inexplicable opening times, a small hub upstairs in a WHSmith which is heated to a temperature hotter than the sun, has the slowest moving queue ever and staff who try and sell you everything apart from what you came in for and a horrible depressing place straight out of 1980s Eastern Bloc where someone once did an actual shit on the floor and the staff just roped it off.

So unsurprisingly I try not to use the Post Office.

My local one is great. I'd be lost without it tbh since all the branches of my bank closed down, so I can do it at the PO instead. The main depot is horrible, staff are always so rude. I dread a parcel ending up there!

Our local branches are both fantastic and a complete life-saver as we don't have any banks nearby - in fact, the nearest is about 30 miles away.

With the PO, we can pay in money which is an absolutely essential with us both being self-employed.

The future surely lies in village shops that have a PO counter at the normal till - where staff actually give a shite about their business because they own it. Isn't that basically the direction they're moving in? They're closing their "Crown post offices" which is as I understand it the ones they own, rather than the ones which are franchised.

Both our post office (my town and the next town) have unfailingly polite and helpful staff.

I live near central London and my local branch is up for closure. This will really impact my mother and I as we live in a highly populated area. The nearest place with a post office desk is too far away and won't be able to serve the amount of foot fall.

Seriously not good news for us.