I've always been a fan of buying postage on-line. Easy, no need to buy stamps, just pop the letters in a box or drop off parcels at the special counter with no weighing or queuing.
Yesterday however I had a frustrating time with the worst of both worlds.
I sold a few small items on eBay, printed off the labels and paid postage, and popped into the PO to drop them off and get the forms signed.
But:
1) They had closed the fast drop-off point. They do that apparently at busy times, to put the staff onto the ordinary counters. So I still had to queue, endlessly. Pointless having a fast drop-off point and then closing it just when you need it.
2) The parcels all had to be re-weighed at the ordinary counter, and the calculated postage now differed from the figures given by the on-line reckoner. Some were over, some under. It is not possible to pay extra to make up the difference, eg by sticking on some stamps, so these were rejected.
3) I then had to go home and log in to eBay and find out how to get refunds on the superceded postage charges. There is no option for "incorrect calculation" so I lied and said I had lost the sticker, which apparently is a satisfactory explantion.
Although eBay uses the PO online postage service, it won't let you log into the ordinary PO postage account - they are different apparently.
4) Then back to the PO to queue again.
|
I did all that when I was ebaying on a reasonable scale, and soon came to the conclusion that on-line was the way to go, but I elected to run the risk of not getting postage certificates. That way you can print the postage, stick it on and chuck the item in a letter box, no queuing. At worst I'd go to the main post office and use the extra large letterbox on their wall outside if the item was too big.
Thought it might be an endless hassle with me not being able to prove posting etc, but in fact never had a problem once in some hundreds of parcels.
I think I made the odd exception if the book was worth over £100.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 28 Feb 12 at 09:05
|
Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion. I'll forget about getting proof of posting.
The on-line postage quotes are becoming a bit like getting car insurance - the quote is only valid at the time, and changes if you re-check later.
I've been trying to find out if it is worth posting something to Australia. There isn't a fixed price - I get three quotes, ranging from a staggering £58 down to a merely extortionate £30, from different carriers but all apparently using the same basic PO infrastructure.
I bet if I used one my local PO would then query the weight and want to charge a different price.
The customer says the reverse cost, from Australia to UK is only £8.
|
Lumme, you're spending more time on that customer than I would. I'd just pick the obvious first price, even it was £58, and tell the customer that's the price. If he doesn't want to pay it move along, nothing to see here...
|
>> 4) Then back to the PO to queue again.
I like queuing at the Post Office. It gives me the chance to get away from 'er indoors and to chat up the ladies drawing their pension.
|
Post Office and on-line postage - rant - Crankcase
