19/09/2025
As they say use it or lose it, please support your local post office and small businesses 😊
Do you want to help your local post office? - sorry for rant everyone!
Some of you may know about my fight over this post box as it was altered to take parcels, they even came and fixed the new door when we had been closed, in a cloak and dagger early morning operation to avoid me from objecting.
With no prior consultation this box has been changed to a drop box this type of box conflicts with our business by encouraging customers from using our services and decreasing footfall into the branch and therefore competing with us.
As Post Office operators we are self employed and do not receive a salary but earn commission on items processed on behalf of all our courier services, footfall is important to any retail business.
I am aware these boxes maybe useful for some customers when not in location near a post office, but the only reason I see to put this type of box to be put outside a post office is basically not to help with customer convenience but to harm the post office it is outside of.
Since Royal Mail and the Post Office split into two companies back in 2012, it seems like the relationship has broken down and has been going through an ugly divorce, with Royal Mail targeting our loyal customers by directly poaching larger postal users directly.
In our local area other post boxes could have been changed in this way, which would have helped customers access parcel drop off in a more logical place than outside a post office. Royal Mail is just targeting us as a busy office so commission payments will be reduce.
Post offices up and down the country are being targeted by Royal Mail in this way, they say it is modernisation of boxes, but as Royal Mail proceed in this modernisation they are taking the bread and butter away from your post offices.
We have taken this up with Royal Mail and asked for the box to be returned to a letter only box for the convenience of our customers or for it to be removed from our land which is not what we want, however i fear Royal Mail will be stubborn and not return this box to it’s original fit and remove box.
I cannot allow this underhanded behaviour from a bigger bully company.
Today, I observed a gentleman trying to use this box, we had no queue, the door was open in our welcoming manner, I went for a nosy (I know what your thinking …that’s not like me), however, he couldn’t work it ….I said bring it in we will give you a receipt, so in he came with his dog in tow, we processed his parcel and gave him a receipt straight away.
I apologise if this sounds like a rant, but I just needed to make you aware of this situation, and the background to my complaint against Royal Mail.
My question at the top was ….do you want to help your local post office, I will leave this with you to decide how you feel you can help, share the post? Don’t use the box for parcels? Or just ignore this ranting woman….
While this battle goes on, I wanted to point out (see photo) that the slot at the top is for your letters, a number of customers have had trouble finding this slot and still coming in to hand cards in - we can’t take these items without checking them as correctly paid, so please use this slot to post letters/cards if your happy they are correctly stamped.