Online Postage & taking to the PO.

[shipmaster122]

Hi,

My first post on the forum, so i'll introduce myself. I'm the director of an eBay/web business that posts around 3-10 packages per day by Royal Mail, and a few by courier.

My question is this:
Recently we've been using RM's "Online Postage" feature on their website to pre-pay and print out our postage (mainly Rec'd SF) to in theory save time at the PO (although it takes ages to type in all of the details and print out the pre-paid labels!). Today I got a box of Recorded Signed For labels too, so we put the labels on ready so all the lady at the PO needs to do is scan it into the system (she also asks me to put the package onto the scales and confirms the amount I paid).

Does my local Post Office still get their money/commission from this as they would if I just put the address label onto the package and got them to do the rest as the majority of PO customers do? I'm just concerned as I know if you dump a RM sack at the desk full of PPI'd mail or equivalent, they have to accept it but don't get anything from it..

Would be great to hear from any of you.

[arnold cheshire]

NO your local post office wont get any commission from online postage

[shipmaster122]

Ok, I'm not sure what would be the best option. To spend 10 minutes at the PO weighing all of the packages and letting them print off the labels etc., or pre-paying and printing the postage myself and just getting them to scan it in like I do at the moment with them getting nothing from it?

[POSTMAN]

Printing out the postage labels yourself costs 'you',and you've even said it's a pain in the arse.(Is there a discount for doing this?)

You obviously have to address the stuff,either by print labels or hand written so you can't get away with that.
But you have to still go through the motions at the counter,and in my experience when i send off a lot of stuff they are very quick.

Time wise you're not saving a lot,money wise it's costing you and the PO earnings go down.Not 100% if there are any payment for scanning stuff in.

It's a no brainer for me.

Let's not hasten the process...

[Lounge Lizard]

I know of Sub Postmasters that get most angry with 'customers' taking in on line paid postage items a bit like a publican taking exception to drinkers bringing their own cans of beer or sandwiches into his pub.

[shipmaster122]

I know of Sub Postmasters that get most angry with 'customers' taking in on line paid postage items a bit like a publican taking exception to drinkers bringing their own cans of beer or sandwiches into his pub.

The ladies at my PO seemed OK about it, but we have now decided that we will be putting the Recorded label on ready for them (so we can upload the tracking number before the item is sent), and paying for the items at the Post Office. TBH, I have noticed they seem a bit happier when I pay in-branch, so i'll do it that way.

Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated.

[not me]

I know of Sub Postmasters that get most angry with 'customers' taking in on line paid postage items a bit like a publican taking exception to drinkers bringing their own cans of beer or sandwiches into his pub.

The ladies at my PO seemed OK about it, but we have now decided that we will be putting the Recorded label on ready for them (so we can upload the tracking number before the item is sent), and paying for the items at the Post Office. TBH, I have noticed they seem a bit happier when I pay in-branch, so i'll do it that way.

Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated.

why not try and work out a deal
drop your mail off and pay the next day when you are in?
Ive done it when i used to eBay full time and i know many other do too
obviously it requires a level of trust on either side but it frees up your time and lets them work their way through your stuff as they can
I used to give them cash when i dropped off and picked up my change and proof of posting the next day

[newsubbie]

I have plenty of ebayers who come into our branch, leave the items and collect the receipts the next day.

This way the queue isn't held up, you don't have to wait, and we still get the revenue from selling the postage.

Speak to the staff and ask if they can come to an arrangement with you...

[shipmaster122]

Just an update.

We have now worked out we are spending over £5,000/yr on RM products, so can apply for an account with them.
We will just be making a normal PPI account as they already give a good discount for that without additional products such as Packetpost being used.

Anyone got any experience with PPI (especially Recorded), is it any good?

Also, can I send AirMail/AirSure/Int'l Signed For with it, and do I have to separate the stuff from normal mail?

Cheers

[arnold cheshire]

Just an update.

We have now worked out we are spending over £5,000/yr on RM products, so can apply for an account with them.
We will just be making a normal PPI account as they already give a good discount for that without additional products such as Packetpost being used.

Anyone got any experience with PPI (especially Recorded), is it any good?

Also, can I send AirMail/AirSure/Int'l Signed For with it, and do I have to separate the stuff from normal mail?

Cheers

make sure you get your postage accurate in mail centres they will check what you have sent

[POSTMAN]

Just an update.

We have now worked out we are spending over £5,000/yr on RM products, so can apply for an account with them.
We will just be making a normal PPI account as they already give a good discount for that without additional products such as Packetpost being used.

Anyone got any experience with PPI (especially Recorded), is it any good?

Also, can I send AirMail/AirSure/Int'l Signed For with it, and do I have to separate the stuff from normal mail?

Cheers

You can use PPIs for the following products:

Big Book
Cleanmail®
First Class account postings
Second Class account postings
International Destination Sort™
International Unsorted & Format Sort
Mailsort® 120, 700 and 1400
Newspapers and periodicals
Packetpost™ (First Class and Second Class)
Presstream®
Presstream® Premium (formerly CityStream)
Recorded Signed For™
Royal Mail Special Delivery™ 9.00am
Royal Mail Special Delivery™ Next Day
Royal Mail Tracked™
Walksort®

And yes make sure what you send is what you pay for,they do check.

http://www2.royalmail.com/discounts-pay ... ccount/ppi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[shipmaster122]

Thanks for the info there! Im still a little confused over the internationals.. We only send a max of around two internationals each day, which service would we use for standard airmail? Also, we send Airsure and have been told about tracked and secure. For this, do we need to have a separate mailing bag, or do we just put a priority services pouch in our uk bag?