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In an apposing thread to another on the main page*....
Have customers become more obnoxious this year?
In my post office so far this week we've had:
• "can you send these packages for me? No I don't know the addresses, one of them is going to Serbia if that helps?"
• "can I buy 200 2nd class stamps for my Christmas cards?" Customer pays for the stamps, leaves the unstamped cards on the counter and walks out. (We've had this three times this week alone but 200 was the most at one go)
• "I want to buy a Christmas card and send it to a mate in Spain, how do I do that? Have you got his address? How much!! I'm not paying £2.20!!"
• multiple cases of "75p!! I remember when they were thrupence!"
*(but not in direct response to the OP of that thread)
leaves the unstamped cards on the counter and walks out.
What did you do/say?
I was briefly a member of a Facebook group where bike shop workers related their best (worst) customer experiences. I'd like to say that it was quite an eye opener, but it really wasn't 😂
I was briefly a member of a Facebook group where bike shop workers related their best (worst) customer experiences. I’d like to say that it was quite an eye opener, but it really wasn’t 😂
My LBS has a special place in hell for the people who bring in a carrier bag full of "parts" that they've sourced from ebay, online shops, older bikes etc and ask him to fit to the bike they've brought in for service.
He reckons it's over 50% of the parts that don't fit, don't work, need a service themselves...
And then the customer is all surprised that it's added more money to the repair bill.
That and customers who have started the job themselves, botched it all up and then brought the resulting mess in for him to sort out. One guy brought in a wheel he'd part laced up. It needed completely unlacing (cos the pattern was wrong) and then they turned out to be the wrong length spokes anyway.
As a Saturday girl (well woman at the time) in a big Laura Ashley store, some of the customers were a tiny bit demanding. However the worst one dropped his wife's coat in a changing room and demanded one of the sales girls come over and pick it up. He was standing right next to the coat and his attitude was one of a servant and master, lazy, spoilt git.
The tracking info is showing this as delivered but I don’t have it. Please deliver ASAP
*Sends picture proof of delivery*
Yes it was left on the front desk, but it’s not there now, please send another ASAP.
‘Are you able to check with the person that signed for it?’
I have, she says she left it there but it’s not there now. We need this ASAP.
‘Ok but I’ll need a purchase order’
I’m not paying for another, I haven’t received the original thing.
The value of the shipment wasn’t worth my time arguing, unfortunately.
I'll quote my post in the other thread:
After working in a shop, my sympathy for anyone who deals with the public is enormous. One example: we used to get loads of people coming in asking for a refund on CDs they’d blatantly just copied (early 2000s). They were very insistent about their rights, CDs still had the Woolworths price stickers on them and they had a receipt, how could I be so rude as to refuse them? I worked in an Our Price. Despite pointing out they were in the wrong shop, they’d continue to demand a refund. I learned that the customer is usually wrong, and try and remember that when I’m dealing with customer service now
In an apposing thread to another on the main page*….
Has the standard of spelling got that bad?
"Can I buy 200 2nd class stamps for my Christmas cards?” Customer pays for the stamps, leaves the unstamped cards on the counter and walks out.
I'd have thrown the cards in the paper recycling bin without batting an eyelid.
I learned that the customer is usually wrong, and try and remember that when I’m dealing with customer service now
Yep - "the customer is always right" mantra has a lot to answer for.
“Can I buy 200 2nd class stamps for my Christmas cards?” Customer pays for the stamps, leaves the unstamped cards on the counter and walks out.
Put all the stamps on a single card and just leave the rest (of the cards) on the jiffy bag shelf or in the container for the rolls of brown paper.
I was waiting a at the click and collect desk of a large toy store chain yesterday and saw a customer just wave her phone at at the young staff member, presumably with her order details. She then picked up her order and wafted off without a word, never mind a smile or a thank you. If human ignorance was a person, I had just met them.
Mind you, I started my working life in retail 25 years ago and was routinely shouted at, threatened, and spoken down to, so I'm not sure much has changed.
Yep – “the customer is always right” mantra has a lot to answer for.
It’s also a misquote. The full quote is -
‘In matters of taste, the customer is always right.’
Weird that first bit got dropped.
In a small local post office a couple of year ago, a young man, probably a student judging by location, gave the lady at the counter his 'missed delivery' card. She asked if he had rearranged delivery to this PO, because the collection office was across town. He replied that he thought he could pick it up from any post office!
• “can I buy 200 2nd class stamps for my Christmas cards?” Customer pays for the stamps, leaves the unstamped cards on the counter and walks out. (We’ve had this three times this week alone but 200 was the most at one go)
Not saying they were right, but if they had brought in 200 tiny packets, you'd have weighed them all and printed out those pseudo stamp label thingies and you would have stuck them on wouldn't you? Kind of queers the pitch as to who is responsible for attaching the proof of payment to the thing.
I’d like to say that it was quite an eye opener, but it really wasn’t
You're annoying me noo!
I'd have left the cards on the side and gifted the stamps to the next however many customers btw.
What did you do/say?
Shout at them as they walk out.... But we usually end up putting them on for them anyway as they pretend not to hear - they say 'you can do that for me!' Or 'well where am I supposed to do that?'
Not saying they were right, but if they had brought in 200 tiny packets, you’d have weighed them all and printed out those pseudo stamp label thingies and you would have stuck them on wouldn’t you? Kind of queers the pitch as to who is responsible for attaching the proof of payment to the thing.
This is true - but I get paid for the processing time of managing 200 parcels. Stamp sales are less than a 2% gross margin. Even on a sale of 200 stamps I'd get paid more processing 1 special delivery.
This 👇also seems to be a recurring theme at the moment:
To be fair the extreme inflation of postage since they got privatised is breath-taking.
My standard response to this is now - well next year feel free to send your cards with EVRI
This 👇also seems to be a recurring theme at the moment:
Is that because of the little bit of stamp missing?
Had a new house owner complain that "their doorbell went ding but not dong", "it must be the wiring" they said. Errrr, no..
Is that because of the little bit of stamp missing?
Yes - the barcode/qr code is missing which is now the stamp. I suppose you could send a letter with just the barcode, but not without. The fee the other end is now £5 too! The amount of refusals and complaints we get when the receiver finds out it's a Christmas card 😂
Also the barcode was introduced for a several reasons but one was to stop fake stamps, but it seems people are still buying dodgy stamps online (Amazon & eBay).
Had a new house owner complain that “their doorbell went ding but not dong”, “it must be the wiring” they said. Errrr, no..
😂
@monkeyboyjc isn't that a pre-barcode stamp?
I'm guessing there are still quite a few people who stockpiled those stamps, and think that they're still valid.
My wife has a small business and sends a lot of parcels. I often get to post them. 18 months ago we had 3 post offices in town. One has permanently closed, one is almost never open due to staff shortages effectively leaving just one. As a frequent visitor I see how many people, especially the elderly really rely on it. For banking and pensions yes, but also for a bit of social interaction with a real person. Not an ATM or automated supermarket checkout.
I was there today. The queue was like an Alton Towers ride on August bank holiday. But the staff were absolutely stellar. Friendly, patient and helpful. There was a bit of moaning in the queue but it was defused by the efficient staff who kept it quickly moving. I've taken to always telling the counter staff what a great job they do, it seems to be welcomed. OP you're doing a great job, most of us really appreciate it.
I remember being behind an older lady in a post office queue a few years ago, and she was wanting a letter sent Air Mail to one of the west coast islands, as it had to arrive next day. She point blank refused to believe that 1st class or Special Delivery would get there next day by road, or that there was no air mail service to the islands.
The poor guy behind the counter had reached the point he wasn't sure what to do or say.
Best bit was, it just looked like a card.
@mokeyboyjc that's the first I've actually noticed that all the barcode stamps have a fake perforation printed on them!
I don't think I've ever used a barcode, as I just use the online Click&Drop now.
The designer who put the crinkly line in between the picture and bar code was not thinking this through. Remember the customer can be any member of the public.
That's awful design. That just doesn't look like part of the stamp, at least not to the segment of the population which is most likely to still use them (oldies). And then you add a line which makes it look like you need to remove it!
I may have posted my last post office experience on here before, but basicaly someone was faffing at the counter for ages trying to send a small parcel...
Eventualy she got to paying, and didn't know the PIN for her card, so spent a further 3 or 4 mins o the phone getting it from presumably her husband or something as she was also talking to them about picking the kids up and what to have for dinner...all whilst stood at the counter with a massive queue behind, which wasn't massive before she got to the counter.
I don't mind, and half expect OAP's etc. to get a bit mixed up, but this was not that, it's just selfish.
As a frequent visitor I see how many people, especially the elderly really rely on it. For banking and pensions yes, but also for a bit of social interaction with a real person.
I've used our local PO a fair bit for ebay sales and yes, absolutely this ^^. The lady at the counter knows all the oldies by name (and from the sounds of things, all their family as well), has a quick chat but keeps things efficient and moving along.
It's a vital service, the old folk would be lost without it.
Although why they all have to go in there at lunchtime is a mystery. You've got all ****ing day, choose a time when the rest of us don't need it!
Although why they all have to go in there at lunchtime is a mystery. You’ve got all **** day, choose a time when the rest of us don’t need it!
Luxury! Our local town centre (ok, it's a small town of 9000, but still a town) PO is not open a single chuffing lunchtime. Closed 1-2pm Mon, Tues, Thu & Fri. It closes Wed at 12 and doesn't open at all on the weekend. It is basically exclusively a provision for the retired. (some) POs really don't help themselves sometimes.
No, my customer annoyance peaked back in about 88 or 89, these millenials are amateurs compared with the OG crew.
No matter what their age, there's a massive tendency "these days" to label themselves to justify why they're entitled to something.
Or why they should be allowed to behave a certain way that makes them different from everyone else and somehow justifies a rant.
If you want to be a dick, be a dick. But don't attach a label (PTSD, bipolar, one leg, single parent) to it and think it justifies your actions.
q.v., posts on the internet.
If you think British customers are bad, try dealing with Americans. The most peverse nation i've ever dealt with.
That’s awful design. That just doesn’t look like part of the stamp, at least not to the segment of the population which is most likely to still use them (oldies). And then you add a line which makes it look like you need to remove it!
I agree. Which ijit thought that was a good idea? Stick the barcode below the image with no weird fake perforation line - no one's going to remove it.
Which ijit thought that was a good idea?
If one were cynical, one might wonder whether being able to charge an extra fiver for delivery at absolutely no extra cost to the service isn't wholly accidental. It's not like they haven't been happily delivering non-barcoded stamps since the beginning of stamps, it's simply a punitive charge.
why they all have to go in there at lunchtime is a mystery. You’ve got all **** day
I've always wondered that. Supermarkets on Sundays, 15 minutes before closing, it's rammed with pensioners doing a monthly shop. What have you been doing all week? I only wanted an onion.
In my experience Tesco suffers from those who only just have a fingernail clinging onto the change in technology deciding that they can use the self scan checkouts for an entire trolley load. They then have to study each item looking for the barcode.
But stamps that barcode pseudoserration is a joke.
Luckily I try not to deal with people at work.
they can use the self scan checkouts for an entire trolley load
And then, without fail, after they've completed everything, only then do they start bagging up all the loose items from the scale which is literally called the bagging area.
The designer who put the crinkly line in between the picture and bar code was not thinking this through. Remember the customer can be any member of the public.<br /><br />
You’re absolutely right, I posted several cards today, which I put current 1st Class stamps on, and I noticed the faux perf line along the edge and thought it was odd. I’ve still got a bunch of Christmas stamps from last year, and I asked the girl in the post office, (well, it’s a Morrisons Local with a post office counter, but still), if they were still valid without the barcode. Apparently they are, because they’re a special design, so will still be processed as normal. If the stamps are generic 1st/2nd, then the recipient will pay an excess fee. <br />Worth noting and keeping in mind.
“I want to buy a Christmas card and send it to a mate in Spain, how do I do that? Have you got his address? How much!! I’m not paying £2.20!!”
Might have been worth asking him how much it would’ve cost to deliver it himself…
One of the cards I posted today was to New York, and it also cost me £2.20, which I consider to be pretty reasonable to get it across 5000-odd miles of ocean. <br />most of my cards I deliver by hand, even when the recipient is 20-30 miles away, because it gives me a chance to keep in touch with friends I otherwise don’t see that often.
Oh, and to answer the original question, compared to Americans, at least most of our shitty, entitled customers don’t carry guns…
The faux perforation line is confusing to me...
Presumably it's to help automated scanners, but I could see why that would be confusing to some.
Surely a solid black line could serve the same purpose for optical scanning whilst also discouraging the hard of thinking to rip that bit off.
It doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me.
I'm generally OK with my (adult) children, make appropriate allowances for elderly and infirm but other than that the 'great british public' as customers/clients can go ***k themselves.
As a youth about a million years ago, I worked in retail on Saturdays and during school holidays; most customers were polite, pleasant, understanding and undemanding.
Those who weren't were either ignored or, if real arses, shown the door.
I kissed goodbye to any involvement in front line line retail decades ago but have worked in retail support roles since - occasionally.
There has been a rapid and regrettable transition towards customers with a perceived sense of entitlement backed up with arrogance, ignorance and a complete absence of any social skills - of even the most basic kind.
Grunt, swear, I know my rights, want to see your manager - now.
If only the response could be...piss off you fat/ugly/ignorant/drunken peasant back to your flea infested hovel where you can rot and die; I will then defecate on your pauper's grave.
I don't like the new barcode stamp as it seems they don't print the dated postmark over it any more. This means I can't gauge the timeliness of letter deliveries in my area (which is of interest as parcels are taking over 2 weeks and I reckon we only see the postie once week!)
PS I've have helped the customer drastically slim down their Christmas card list by posting all the cards without the stamp, next year she would be able to move a lot of acquaintances into the 'did not receive' column 🙂
It’s not like they haven’t been happily delivering non-barcoded stamps since the beginning of stamps, it’s simply a punitive charge.
The last 5 years or so saw an influx of fake stamps sold online at dramatically reduced prices - these were cutting out all UK revenue, so royal mail, the 3000 or so remaining postoffices and 12500 franchise postoffices independent shops like mine. People were thinking they were having a good deal by saving 10p on a stamp but we're screwing everyone over and sending there money over seas, a bit like those Lewis brakes on another thread.
I don't mind the printed perfection line - stamps have been sticky back for years now. None are perforated and there definitely isn't an easy way to tare them but RM who design and issue the stamps have done a terrible job of marketing and awareness. The £5 fee seems extremely high though.
I don’t like the new barcode stamp as it seems they don’t print the dated postmark over it any more
A visible date mark hasn't been used in most sorting offices for around 10years - they used an infrared in. Again a reason they changed to the barcode system is that every stamp can only be used once as each code is unique and the data they acquire knowing where and when each letter goes is useful to RM. It also stops people trying to reuse stamps.
The full quote is –
‘In matters of taste, the customer is always right.’Weird that first bit got dropped.
Depends on who you're quoting - thats Marshall Field. But theres also Henry Gordon Selfridge “right or wrong; the customer is always right.”
a reason they changed to the barcode system is that every stamp can only be used once as each code is unique and the data they acquire knowing where and when each letter goes is useful to RM
Means they can instantly tell how many weeks it's been sitting in a pile of trays kicked under the frame while the line managers force the posties to prioritise parcels over hospital letters, bank cards and court summons....
Grunt, swear, I know my rights
I always found that to be a great 'tell' that they didn't.
It's why I took an amateur interest in consumer law in the first place. Aged 20 with some bloke twice your age yelling "I know my rights!" at you, it's difficult not to go "oh, well, OK then." Which is what they bank on, of course. Knowing their rights better than they do is an invaluable, nay essential, skill if you work in a customer-facing role.
The designer who put the crinkly line in between the picture and bar code was not thinking this through. Remember the customer can be any member of the public.
I don’t mind the printed perfection line – stamps have been sticky back for years now. None are perforated and there definitely isn’t an easy way to tare them
An ageing friend of my (ageing) mum used a scissors to cut the bar codes off because they wouldn't tear along the line 🙁 (This is after she'd got the message about needing to send all her 'old' stamps off to get the new ones).
First she knew about it was when the recipients started mentioning that they'd had to pay extra to get the letters.
I’ve often wondered if the retired actually know when it is the weekend?
Easy - it's two days after bin day.
The only way I know it's bine day is when I step outside and all my retired neighbours have had them out since 430am
The thing with the stamps is… if you already know the purpose of the barcode, then you can’t necessarily appreciate the confusion… where as for a huge chunk of the public, barcodes are something on packaging that help you buy the goods… the barcode’s purpose is then complete and can be thrown away when you use the thing you’ve bought. It’s poor design, and a sign of a culture where those who sign off on the designs are not capable of putting themselves in the mindset of users outside the system they work in and for. The barcodes should be integrated into the stamp design fully to indicate it is not outside the stamp, but part of it.
1<br />snownrockFull Member<br />The only way I know it’s bine day is when I step outside and all my retired neighbours have had them out since 430am<br />We call them ‘binfluencers’ thanks to Susie Dent.<br /><br />
or indeed “bindicators”
anyway back to the awful customer stories!
Seems to depend on the postie, we accidentally sent some cards out with old stamps on, 5/6 delivered with no charge…
Old Christmas stamps, or old regular style (pre-barcode)?
Old regular style, all from the same book, 2 went to Scotland, 2 to Northumberland, 2 to Huddersfield (from Leeds) only the Huddersfield ones got charged (just had confirmation of the 2nd one having fees requested.)
Easy – it’s two days after bin day
Thursday and Friday aren't the weekend!
Old style were still being honoured according to Count Zero.
Can I kick against opinion here. It's a sticker, it's pretty obvious to me you put the whole sticker on particularly as there's nothing anywhere advising people to cut bits off.
The old folk round herecput their bins out a day or two early. I presume to give them something to do
The old folk round herecput their bins out a day or two early. I presume to give them something to do
Around here they have a day of discussing whether it's the brown / green bin week or the black bin week first.
The barcaode stamp design is stupid.
Shipping is the cause of 90% of our customer service interactions despite all the information and tracking being sent to the customer. No we don't have a s
hotline to the boss of Royal Mail so we can find out why the your free postage order that was done at 5pm on a Friday hasn't arrived in the Outer Hebrides.
The barcaode stamp design is stupid.
But necessary because the picture ones were being massively faked on eBay and Amazon
Having a barcode isn’t the design mistake, making it look separate and detachable from the stamp is.
Anyway, customers… most are no bother… many are genuinely a pleasure and delight to deal with, even if they return with a problem that needs dealing with, or if assistance is required for something surprising you’d normally assume people could understand without help… only a tiny handful are “bad”, but they can take up a surprising amount of time that would be better spent on the “good” majority.
Having a barcode isn’t the design mistake, making it look separate and detachable from the stamp is.
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
the bit that everyone is discussing - the graphic of a perforation that seems to indicate the bit that looks like a stamp can / should be detached from the bit that doesn't look like a stamp. Its a piece of common graphic communication - on any other product that would be a prompt to the used that the two parts should be separated.
Really its only a mistake people are likely to make once - in reality although we tend to get mail through the door most weeks its now quite rare that any of us actually post anything which is why the cost of a stamp is a perennial surprise and conversation point. That 'once' won't have happened for plenty of people yet - but you may yet get the bill for mail that has the stamp damaged because now is the time any of your friends and relatives are going to make that mistake. Most of the mail I received doesnt have a stamp on it, in fact until today I hadn't received an envelope with a new style stamp on it - only prepaid envelopes with an image of the new style stamps printed onto it. The new design of stamp might have been around for a while but now will be the first time most people will have actual bought and used one - its might even be the first time most people will actually see one.
What bit of all being on the same sticker is confusing?
The dotted line that makes it look like it’s supposed to tear off?
Around here they have a day of discussing whether it’s the brown / green bin week or the black bin week first.
They’ve streamlined that whole thing here - it’s a flurry of posts on faceberk now.
its a matching scallop edging to the rest of the stamp. Which granted is the traditional shape of an old tear off stamp.
Its a piece of common graphic communication – on any other product that would be a prompt to the used that the two parts should be separated.
But not the scissors logo, or 'tear here'
But clearly others think it's a perforation and I can't tell you that your interpretation is wrong because it's your interpretation. So best left there.
I'm sure the bloke in our local PO is a member of the Chattaway family. He creates queues.