Is your Post Office charging you too much?

07-06-2007

Posting a parcel in the UK became a lot more complicated recently. You now have to measure the dimensions of the parcel to determine its classification of either Letter, Large Letter, or Parcel. Then you have to weigh it to determine the costs associated with each available service.

I use the Post Office's online Price Finder service to determine the postal cost of any item that I am about to list on eBay. That way, I can tell potential buyers up front how much the postage will be.

I've been using my nearest Post Office to post my parcels, and I pencil my calculated costs on the corner of each package so I know as I hand them over, what they should cost for the service I want. The quote I get back is almost never correct.

I called the Postmaster up on his quotes saying that that package should be £1.10, not £1.62. He looks at me as if I'm an annoyance. He then goes through the motions of measuring the package and then when he realises I was right, he said and I quote:

"Ok you're right. Strange because I'm usually good at guessing the size of a parcel"

Talking to him further I learn that he NEVER measures a package. Post offices have this plastic device that they can use to measure a package, with a slot to measure thickness. This guy doesn't use it anymore because he's handled so many packages that he is usually a good guesser (his words).

While I appreciate that if you do something a hundred times each day, you may get so good at it that you don't need the assistance of a device. But what if you (the customer) know your packages are in the cheaper postal category because they are under the maximum dimensions by only a few mm or a cm? Then it's human nature to err on the side of caution - after all, you don't want to under price on behalf of your employer do you? - often resulting in over estimation.

Is your Postmaster using guestimates?

I only post about 4-5 items a fortnight and in the last 3 months, the Postmaster at the Post Office I frequent has never guessed correct for all the packages I take on a given day. He usually gets 3 out of 5 wrong and I have to correct him. I'll admit when he gets them wrong in my favour, I don't correct him.

I've had enough now. I go through the hassle of measuring and weighing my items only to get verbal for telling this guy the correct price when he constantly guesses wrongly how much I have to pay. You would think he'd recognise me by now as the awkward guy who wants to pay the correct price, but no, he still guestimates.

So I've changed Post Offices. And guess what? They guessed too, but the kid at the counter guessed all of them right so I was happy.

Are you paying too much at your Post Office?