Further to the Daily Mail article today that explains how NS&I are withdrawing their products from POs, is there anybody else out there who is surprised that it has taken them so long?
For many years, their customers have been "advised", if not pestered, to switch to BOI products, despite the fact that NS&I have been paying POL to transact their business.
I wonder how many other businesses out there will pay another company to transact its business whilst actively poaching its customers at the same time? Any examples out there?
(Just for the record, I think poaching BT's customers for the HomePhone service was a similar example and one which got POL into a bit of trouble).
Although it's "another nail in the coffin" for POL, I can't help but think NS&I have only done what they should have done years ago.
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National Savings Finally See The Light!
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Running Man
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National Savings Finally See The Light!
"They couldn't see what should have been so obvious".
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subbie
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
Well if we can get the Postbank off the ground we might be able to give dem orish a taste of their own Guinness 
Subbie
Subbie
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FinancialSpecialist
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
Post Office will continue to stock forms (other than application forms) for NS&I and they will long be associated by many customers with the Post Office. The majority of those customers also prefer not to have to do all their transactions on the telephone or internet. I really don't think it will hurt us in the short to medium term and could in fact bring us more business via customers who can no longer top up their accounts over the counter.
POL will undoubtedly release more accounts very similar to some of the missing National Savings ones and this will give us an advantage in savings through having a wider selection of Post Office branded products that we are more targeted on.
I will see it as a burden lifted in all honestly, to not be forced in introduce their range when equivalent PO products usually have higher interest rates and are less cumbersome to operate. They currently fill a gap in some instances, i.e. easy access children's savings, but hopefully POL will release a children's ISA or similar and therefore plug the gap.
POL will undoubtedly release more accounts very similar to some of the missing National Savings ones and this will give us an advantage in savings through having a wider selection of Post Office branded products that we are more targeted on.
I will see it as a burden lifted in all honestly, to not be forced in introduce their range when equivalent PO products usually have higher interest rates and are less cumbersome to operate. They currently fill a gap in some instances, i.e. easy access children's savings, but hopefully POL will release a children's ISA or similar and therefore plug the gap.
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subbie
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
FS your head is not in the right place.
Subbie
Subbie
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The BFO
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
I would prefer to say his view is a little over optimistic.subbie wrote:FS your head is not in the right place.
Subbie
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Running Man
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
I must say FS that if you think this is good news for POL then I agree totally with subbie and the BFO.
May I politely suggest that you have obviously never been part of the sub office network that relies so much on just the type of customer that this decision will drive away.
This is yet another decision made by senior management (of NS&I) that makes it difficult for anybody without the internet and/or who doesn't trust telephone banking to transact their everyday business.
Would anybody care to comment on the poaching of NS&I customers that has been going on for years?
May I politely suggest that you have obviously never been part of the sub office network that relies so much on just the type of customer that this decision will drive away.
This is yet another decision made by senior management (of NS&I) that makes it difficult for anybody without the internet and/or who doesn't trust telephone banking to transact their everyday business.
Would anybody care to comment on the poaching of NS&I customers that has been going on for years?
"They couldn't see what should have been so obvious".
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capitalbiker
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
firstly , FS - can you please advise the name of your optician, those coloured lenses supplied are magic!
Post Office Ltd may well continue to stock the NSI forms but i would suggest that not too many post offices will be maintaing stocks at branch level other than PSB stationery, in the same repect that stocks of DWP envelopes dried up in the aftermath of the introduction of payment of pensions to bank accounts, before we got on board with other banks to enable folks accessing their accounts at the PO counter..
the name escapes me at the moment but which former NS&I CEO was at the helm of POL when there was a surge in financial products and a tie in with BoI, products that competed with NS&I and our other 'partner' banks. POL does seem to take an idea , develop it with partners and before too long screws the partner for its own ends.
Much of the selling point of post offices from POL's pov is that of 'footfall generator', each of the decisions in recent months by govermnent departments have whittled away at the footfall in offices, there are only so many conversations you can have with a fairly static customer base before that customer base gets pissed off. there is a need for a range of products that give repaeat business as in weekly rather than the once in a blue moon financial product- thats the sort of product that should be the icing on the cake.
Having 'lived' through network reinvention - to create a network of bigger, better post offices, experienced network change - to position post offices in accordance with the requiremnets of PO access,
Why I ask do i have so little faith in POLs current plans for network transformation, a plan which when first spoken of a year ago seemed to be merely a branding exercise to better educate Joe & Jessie Public so they knew what to expect at an particular PO turns into a concept that will see any owner of a PO branch/outlet shafted all for the better and greater good of POL. POL is nothing without its network of offices, NT will turn the offices to nothing!
Post Office Ltd may well continue to stock the NSI forms but i would suggest that not too many post offices will be maintaing stocks at branch level other than PSB stationery, in the same repect that stocks of DWP envelopes dried up in the aftermath of the introduction of payment of pensions to bank accounts, before we got on board with other banks to enable folks accessing their accounts at the PO counter..
the name escapes me at the moment but which former NS&I CEO was at the helm of POL when there was a surge in financial products and a tie in with BoI, products that competed with NS&I and our other 'partner' banks. POL does seem to take an idea , develop it with partners and before too long screws the partner for its own ends.
Much of the selling point of post offices from POL's pov is that of 'footfall generator', each of the decisions in recent months by govermnent departments have whittled away at the footfall in offices, there are only so many conversations you can have with a fairly static customer base before that customer base gets pissed off. there is a need for a range of products that give repaeat business as in weekly rather than the once in a blue moon financial product- thats the sort of product that should be the icing on the cake.
Having 'lived' through network reinvention - to create a network of bigger, better post offices, experienced network change - to position post offices in accordance with the requiremnets of PO access,
Why I ask do i have so little faith in POLs current plans for network transformation, a plan which when first spoken of a year ago seemed to be merely a branding exercise to better educate Joe & Jessie Public so they knew what to expect at an particular PO turns into a concept that will see any owner of a PO branch/outlet shafted all for the better and greater good of POL. POL is nothing without its network of offices, NT will turn the offices to nothing!
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billyhayes
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
That'll be Alan Cook.capitalbiker wrote:...the name escapes me at the moment but which former NS&I CEO was at the helm of POL when there was a surge in financial products and a tie in with BoI...
Another complete c@@t who took the money and ran.
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
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The BFO
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
It was actually David Mills who brokered the deal with the Bank Of Ireland. He left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Alan Cook, who previously ran National Savings.billyhayes wrote:That'll be Alan Cook.capitalbiker wrote:...the name escapes me at the moment but which former NS&I CEO was at the helm of POL when there was a surge in financial products and a tie in with BoI...
Another complete c@@t who took the money and ran.
I believe Ms Vennells was big in coffee.
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billyhayes
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
Saviours of the Post Office, everyone of 'em.The BFO wrote: David Mills
Alan Cook
Ms Vennells
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
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The BFO
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
Along with me...billyhayes wrote:Saviours of the Post Office, everyone of 'em.The BFO wrote: David Mills
Alan Cook
Ms Vennells
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capitalbiker
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
billyhayes wrote:Saviours of the Post Office, everyone of 'em.The BFO wrote: David Mills
Alan Cook
Ms Vennells
I'm sure the Reverend Paula Vennels would agree, this being all saints day
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FinancialSpecialist
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
I have never had anything to do with sub offices, it is true. That aside, I know it may seem overly optimistic and I can understand the fear that this headline has brought.
However, in my view the NS&I range isn't as strong as the PO range, obviously with the exception of the Index Linked Savings Certificates. If you own a sub post office and do not try to cross sell Post Office savings to National Savings Customers who bring in their old tattered passbooks to add to their Investment accounts while earning 0.2%, when similar PO products offer up to 2.75%, and bonds which vary, then you are missing a trick. The Post Office range of savings is quite often better for the customer, offers higher income levels for the branch and means that the customer will do their interacting each week with the Post Office, and not with NS&I through the Post Office.
Yes there are lots of customers who want to deal with National Savings because they always have done, or because their parents and grandparents did before them, but the majority see the association between Post Office and NS&I as so great that they don't see the difference. As an FS when I ask customers if they have saved with the PO before, they will invariably say "yes my parents opened an account a National Savings account for me when I was a child" or something along those lines.
In 2011 customers still associate the Post Office with NS&I and they still will do in 2021. The customers who stick with the traditional providers do not like going on the phone or online to ask a question and will still come to their local Post Office for help. As we will still stock the forms we will be able to still offer limited help and of course offer a product range which we can help them with further.
In my office we have dealt with many customers who are from out of town, who when presented with the Post Office range of savings are actually annoyed that their local office never mentioned to them that they could be getting higher interest on their accounts and wouldn't have to send a passbook away for withdrawals. Also, we have been getting customers coming to our branch to open Growth Bonds with old Issue 13 application packs which have been out of date for some time and the system will not even scan. The only reason they got these packs is because they went to their local office to ask for the forms and were then told to bring them to our crown office to open them. I do not know whether the reason behind this is fearing the consequences of making mistakes or just not thinking much of the Post Office products, but if this is the case then I could see why some offices are worried about losing the NS&I business.
Obviously each office is different and each set of customers is different, but I honestly think that the removal of NS&I from Post Office could present as many opportunities as it takes away. Post Office is a respected brand for savings and is now the 8th biggest provider of savings products in the UK, we don't have the necessity of NS&I business that we originally did.
However, in my view the NS&I range isn't as strong as the PO range, obviously with the exception of the Index Linked Savings Certificates. If you own a sub post office and do not try to cross sell Post Office savings to National Savings Customers who bring in their old tattered passbooks to add to their Investment accounts while earning 0.2%, when similar PO products offer up to 2.75%, and bonds which vary, then you are missing a trick. The Post Office range of savings is quite often better for the customer, offers higher income levels for the branch and means that the customer will do their interacting each week with the Post Office, and not with NS&I through the Post Office.
Yes there are lots of customers who want to deal with National Savings because they always have done, or because their parents and grandparents did before them, but the majority see the association between Post Office and NS&I as so great that they don't see the difference. As an FS when I ask customers if they have saved with the PO before, they will invariably say "yes my parents opened an account a National Savings account for me when I was a child" or something along those lines.
In 2011 customers still associate the Post Office with NS&I and they still will do in 2021. The customers who stick with the traditional providers do not like going on the phone or online to ask a question and will still come to their local Post Office for help. As we will still stock the forms we will be able to still offer limited help and of course offer a product range which we can help them with further.
In my office we have dealt with many customers who are from out of town, who when presented with the Post Office range of savings are actually annoyed that their local office never mentioned to them that they could be getting higher interest on their accounts and wouldn't have to send a passbook away for withdrawals. Also, we have been getting customers coming to our branch to open Growth Bonds with old Issue 13 application packs which have been out of date for some time and the system will not even scan. The only reason they got these packs is because they went to their local office to ask for the forms and were then told to bring them to our crown office to open them. I do not know whether the reason behind this is fearing the consequences of making mistakes or just not thinking much of the Post Office products, but if this is the case then I could see why some offices are worried about losing the NS&I business.
Obviously each office is different and each set of customers is different, but I honestly think that the removal of NS&I from Post Office could present as many opportunities as it takes away. Post Office is a respected brand for savings and is now the 8th biggest provider of savings products in the UK, we don't have the necessity of NS&I business that we originally did.
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FinancialSpecialist
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
I had two customers in today with a cut-out advertisement from a newspaper stating that NS&I will stop using the Post Office. Both asked how they could continue using the Post Office for their savings and are planning to close their NS&I accounts. Has no one else encountered similar?
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The BFO
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Re: National Savings Finally See The Light!
I do hope you signed both up for Life Insurance?FinancialSpecialist wrote:I had two customers in today with a cut-out advertisement from a newspaper stating that NS&I will stop using the Post Office. Both asked how they could continue using the Post Office for their savings and are planning to close their NS&I accounts. Has no one else encountered similar?