My Post Office is closing – advice please

[siddieswans]

I realise I have been spoiled during my 20 years on eBay. A Post Office in walking distance (I am older and no longer  drive); but with a parking lot for when my husband needed to drive me (wet weather, large parcels); very helpful and friendly staff.

But now we have been advised of permanent closure on 31st May. I need to change my ways. There are no other POs in walking distance and of those within reasonable driving distance, only one has reliable nearby parking in a shopping centre. The logical thing to do seems to be to cut my posting down to once a week (I have 15 day handling but have always posted twice a week); prepare parcels at home with AP labels, and take them to the PO to be scanned onto my My Post card along my pre-paid satchels and tracked letters.

The EASIEST thing to do would be to empty them every day into the red Post box conveniently located about 100 metres away. But I am concerned that without an initial scan, they may never have another one,  and that I may be liable in an INR dispute. Are these fears justified? Also my manually copying those ridiculously long tracking numbers from AP tracked letters into eBay tracking without making a mistake seems doubtful to say the least.

Also when you print out an AP domestic postage label, do you include all / some the fields marked “optional” like email address, phone number, description, and that eBay “identifier” which seems to me to complicate the address.

I am an old dog who will have to learn new tricks.

PS Don’t mention having to get a new Post Office Box address. 500 previous customers scrambling to replace them locally.

[sugar249]

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@*sons_n_daughters* wrote:

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@countessalmirena wrote:

Does it help to know that I’ve only just taken down our Christmas tree, and I’ve yet to chainsaw it into green-bin-sized bits?

That initial scan is possibly the most important one, at least in terms of proving the item was actually posted. Those red boxes are so tempting… but until a robot pops its head out of the box and automatically scans the parcel/satchel/letter, they don’t offer any sort of proof that the item went any further than the seller’s intentions.

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I can't believe that red boxes don't have in-built scanners yet. It wouldn't be that hard to hook it into the system. It would make life so much easier for so many people. It would also cut down the work of the staff in the PO as they aren't just scanning a parcel that's already been paid for.

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Now let's think about it,  power to the box,  installation of equipment,  parcel rotator mechinism,  reject mechanism,  yell at customer unit (for dodgy bar code), connection back to Hq. I could continue,  but I think you get the drift.  Forgetting the technicalities,  it would at least double the size of the box.  Oh and dont forget vandalism.

Take a look at the scanning setup in a Postoffice,  all of that is built in.

[brickworksmarket]

Not sure if they still have them but some post offices had a self serve parcel drop off you could scan your item then drop it down a chute. 

I have to ask what is a parcel rotator mechinism and why would you need to rotate a parcel.

[sugar249]

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@brickworksmarket wrote:

Not sure if they still have them but some post offices had a self serve parcel drop off you could scan your item then drop it down a chute. 

I have to ask what is a parcel rotator mechinism and why would you need to rotate a parcel.

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There are still a couple around,  but most were problem prone and spent 90% of the time out of service.  And did you see the size of them.   I gave up using it as it would attempt to read and spit it back out to often, so you ended up having to go to the counter anyhow,  last time I went into the PO that had one, it was being used as a great storage unit..

Parcel rotator was my invention for the story here,  Unless the box had scanners in all directions, the parcel would need to be rotated to find the scanner, I just invented for the description here,  but seriously the box would need to be able to scan from all directions, as users cant be relied to throw the parcel in the same way up all the time.