How to get proof of posting for OBA items

[deniser]

We have always had our RM parcels collected but we have decided to drop them off at the PO as it is more convenient. They have told us to leave our sacks and separate parcels in their hatch.

But how do we get proof that we have handed them over - relevant to claiming compensation in the case of Signed For and Special Delivery?

When they were collected from our premises, we filled in the details in an orange or silver book which the postman signed.

But now there doesn't seem to be any mechanism for proving that you handed them in. What do other people do?

 

[MikeCC]

The post office should scan the barcodes in your book. There's a special option on their system, something like 'business services bulk manifest' This allows them to scan without having to enter every address like they would over the counter. Your book should be stamped. No reason not to leave the books with them if they're busy.

Has the advantage over collection that Signed For items are logged at point of entry although there's no other tracking until delivery.

 

[deniser]

The problem is that there is no personnel available to scan the barcodes without joining the queue for the general public which goes out of the door (it's the only surviving post office for a huge area and very short staffed).

There used to be a business counter but they have taken it away.

If you do join the general public queue they open the sacks and enter each one into the system individually. It's a nightmare.

Is this a problem unique to this post office or something everyone experiences?

 

[MikeCC]

They are doing it wrong. They should be scanning from the book not logging each item. If you are the only PPI customer, it's possible they aren't familiar with the bulk manifest. What do they do with the book?

Lucky where we are, with very little queueing but if it's really busy we just leave the books with them and collect next morning.

 

[deniser]

They are doing it wrong. They should be scanning from the book not logging each item. If you are the only PPI customer, it's possible they aren't familiar with the bulk manifest. What do they do with the book?

Lucky where we are, with very little queueing but if it's really busy we just leave the books with them and collect next morning.

They don't want to see the books at all. They say that they will scan the order confirmation when someone takes the sacks/parcels out of the hatch but don't grasp at all that that leaves me without proof of posting. I will have to go in there and speak to the manager I think (if there is one). Thank you for your help.

 

[MikeCC]

Well they are correct they need to scan the OBA order nowadays. Do mention the bulk manifest option on their Horizon system. This is what it's for!

 

[fallschirmjaeger]

This is what put me off 'click and drop' which I guess what you are doing. I could see no real way of avoiding the queue if you wanted the tracking info scanned immediately without joining the queue! So I carry on with franking and just get the items scanned in via the queue! Why - because i immediately go home and tell my customers their tracking codes knowing they have been scanned properly and I have the tracking info!

 

[Pish_Pash]

This is what put me off 'click and drop' which I guess what you are doing. I could see no real way of avoiding the queue if you wanted the tracking info scanned immediately without joining the queue! So I carry on with franking and just get the items scanned in via the queue! Why - because i immediately go home and tell my customers their tracking codes knowing they have been scanned properly and I have the tracking info!

I guess it boils down to how busy your local post office is (i.e. how long the queses are) & how much you value your own time. I use drop & go...which means I'm paying over the odds for postage, but I literally do drop ...then go straight away (no queuing) ....they always process them within an hour or two...so my order always leave that day (which addresses being able to tll y customers). I'd like to use franking (Mailmark), but then I'd be faced with queuing to get a proof of postage or having items scanned in to their system.

 

[OliverTZ0]

Can i just recommend you be very careful with this, been using click and drop for around 3 months however now having to cancel the service following 50+ items never being scanned into the system, even with a stamped manifest they are arguing that they can not see any proof I have dropped the items off to them. Also had multiple items throughout the 3 months take up to 2 weeks to be scanned into the system with no reasoning at all.

 

[14Steve14]

I am looking at trying to save time with my postage. I currently queue at a sub post office who are very good, but it takes time and does cause some annoyance to other customers. The manageress of the store where the post office is said I would be better off posting items early in the morning, but that would offer a worse service for my customers. I looked into Click and Drop but the call from RM about this left me less than convinced that it would be any better or easier. After reading these posts, I may stay as I am for now.

 

[Mr D]

We do click and drop.
Wife takes sacks into the local post office, puts them against the wall the postmaster wants her to use for the sacks then queues to hand in the manifest.
Once handed in she goes - rarely longer than 5 minutes time taken.
Orders show as despatched within minutes on ebay, stuff gets collected by royal mail usually by 5.30 and most times of the year some stuff is delivered next postal day. This time of year its taken up to 10 days for stuff to be delivered - but its processed same day.

Like you Steve dropping off post in a morning would not be good for our customers. We get the sacks to the post office by 5.20 or so.

 

[DEFCON1]

I would say the the OP that if your PO are seriously disputing that you even handed the mail over to ask the manager to check the CCTV. Not too difficult as I would assume you would know the time you dropped the mail off. You should have spoke to the manager straight away as from what you described the clerk behind the counter is quite blatantly making you out to be a liar.
Once you have that proof then file a complaint & ask for compensation.
Hopefully you're not too late!
*edit: just realised you posted this in November - What was the final outcome?
--

We used the 'click & drop' service for around 18 months.
It can be a good solution for when you're business is starting to grow as it can save quite a bit of time of having to queue.
However, I would say it's crucial that you find a good Post Office & build a relationship with them.
As we grew & at one point we were taking 8 bags+ of parcels to our local Post Office it soon became clear it was too much for them to handle every day.
One morning I went in to the PO find our mail from the previous day still behind the counter!
We then found a great PO 5 miles away but it was well worth the trip as they were reliable & treated our mail as a priority.
It really does depend on how many parcels you're shipping every day. You need to do the maths as once you reach a certain threshold you realise you're better offer processing the mail yourself & take the savings on the PO handling costs. Also, as you reach a point you become eligible for a daily free collection from the Royal Mail which saves any bother of even going to the Post Office at all.

 

[Ben F]

We have always had our RM parcels collected but we have decided to drop them off at the PO as it is more convenient. They have told us to leave our sacks and separate parcels in their hatch.

But how do we get proof that we have handed them over - relevant to claiming compensation in the case of Signed For and Special Delivery?

When they were collected from our premises, we filled in the details in an orange or silver book which the postman signed.

But now there doesn't seem to be any mechanism for proving that you handed them in. What do other people do?

Hi, They are liaised with the Claims team within Royal Mail, and in the unfortunate event you need to submit a claim in relation to orders placed in OBA via your Click & Drop account, the below evidence will result in your claim being processed the most effectively

1 - A screenshot of the sales order number in Click and Drop
2 - A screenshot of the batch history section
3 - A screenshot of the actual order in Click and Drop with the associated 2D barcode / 1D barcode number of the label produced.
4 - A copy of the manifest submitted to OBA, with the OBA sales order number included

This information will then allow the claims team to investigate and process your claim.

Click & Drop Support. Hope it works.

 

[Mr D]

I would say the the OP that if your PO are seriously disputing that you even handed the mail over to ask the manager to check the CCTV. Not too difficult as I would assume you would know the time you dropped the mail off. You should have spoke to the manager straight away as from what you described the clerk behind the counter is quite blatantly making you out to be a liar.
Once you have that proof then file a complaint & ask for compensation.
Hopefully you're not too late!
*edit: just realised you posted this in November - What was the final outcome?
--

We used the 'click & drop' service for around 18 months.
It can be a good solution for when you're business is starting to grow as it can save quite a bit of time of having to queue.
However, I would say it's crucial that you find a good Post Office & build a relationship with them.
As we grew & at one point we were taking 8 bags+ of parcels to our local Post Office it soon became clear it was too much for them to handle every day.
One morning I went in to the PO find our mail from the previous day still behind the counter!
We then found a great PO 5 miles away but it was well worth the trip as they were reliable & treated our mail as a priority.
It really does depend on how many parcels you're shipping every day. You need to do the maths as once you reach a certain threshold you realise you're better offer processing the mail yourself & take the savings on the PO handling costs. Also, as you reach a point you become eligible for a daily free collection from the Royal Mail which saves any bother of even going to the Post Office at all.

We use click & drop.
Wife takes bags to post office, drops them off at the side counter where others drop bags.
Queues up to hand over paperwork.

Postie comes in having parked van, picks up all the sacks dropped off, plus sacks quickly sealed from behind the counter, loads van and drives off.

Post office staff aren't doing anything to the bags, even handed over bags direct to the postie at the van before now when running late.

In our experience different post offices have different internal procedures for dealing with post.
We used to use franking and take 3 or 4 shopping bags in to the post office. One small post office about 8 miles away was great, 2 minutes or less to deal with and get POP signed. A crown post office 4 miles away was horrible, same kind of load would take 45 minutes - with them weighing and checking each box and envelope.

 

[DEFCON1]

I stand corrected...
I believe I got mixed up with another service we previously used called 'Drop & Go' or something along those lines rather than 'Click & Drop'.
With that service the PO would weigh & sort & label each parcel.

I thought you could only take Click & Drop mail directly to a Royal Mail Sorting Office.
Which is exactly what we do now if we don't have a collection.
Surely that would be the preferred option rather than a Post Office?

 

[Mr D]

I stand corrected...
I believe I got mixed up with another service we previously used called 'Drop & Go' or something along those lines rather than 'Click & Drop'.
With that service the PO would weigh & sort & label each parcel.

I thought you could only take Click & Drop mail directly to a Royal Mail Sorting Office.
Which is exactly what we do now if we don't have a collection.
Surely that would be the preferred option rather than a Post Office?

No, can use local post office. Once we grow too big we'll be asked to use a depot (2 hour round trip).

 

[deniser]

Just for clarification, we are reducing our business, not growing it (need a change of scene after doing this for 16 years) and have had parcels collected for for the last 10 years. Needing to use the Post Office as we are winding down and it suits us better to take them when we are ready rather than hanging around for a fixed time collection.

Not sure we have Click and Drop...

We pack the parcels, stick on the orange signed for labels, weigh them, enter the amount of parcels and the average weight into OBA, then do up the sacks, label them with the Docket Number and take the sacks to the PO. Not sure what the name for this is.

We haven't actually lost one yet since doing it this way, but customers are complaining that there is no tracking information online. All it says online when you enter the parcel number is that no tracking information will be available until delivery is attempted. When you hand the parcels over the counter individually, the tracking shows the time and date that the parcel was processed at the PO. That bit is missing because I guess they don't bother scanning the contents of the sacks at all. And that worries me because I have no proof that an individual parcel has been posted if it were to go missing. I know they only pay out £20 per parcel but I am worried that if a whole sack goes missing, it could prove costly and £20 towards each one is better than nothing.

Is this an attempt to force us to use the printed barcodes system? I do not want to implement any new systems while winding down.

 

[Mr D]

Just for clarification, we are reducing our business, not growing it (need a change of scene after doing this for 16 years) and have had parcels collected for for the last 10 years. Needing to use the Post Office as we are winding down and it suits us better to take them when we are ready rather than hanging around for a fixed time collection.

Not sure we have Click and Drop...

We pack the parcels, stick on the orange signed for labels, weigh them, enter the amount of parcels and the average weight into OBA, then do up the sacks, label them with the Docket Number and take the sacks to the PO. Not sure what the name for this is.

We haven't actually lost one yet since doing it this way, but customers are complaining that there is no tracking information online. All it says online when you enter the parcel number is that no tracking information will be available until delivery is attempted. When you hand the parcels over the counter individually, the tracking shows the time and date that the parcel was processed at the PO. That bit is missing because I guess they don't bother scanning the contents of the sacks at all. And that worries me because I have no proof that an individual parcel has been posted if it were to go missing. I know they only pay out £20 per parcel but I am worried that if a whole sack goes missing, it could prove costly and £20 towards each one is better than nothing.

Is this an attempt to force us to use the printed barcodes system? I do not want to implement any new systems while winding down.

Click and drop doesn't need orange stickers. The normal postal label works.
We get tracking on parcels and large letters as standard, don't even bother with signed for unless meeting value requirement.

Be careful if your parcels are worth more than £20. Royal Mail have on occasion refused to pay part because of the higher value that should have been insured.

 

[bharris]

Be careful if your parcels are worth more than £20. Royal Mail have on occasion refused to pay part because of the higher value that should have been insured.

I thought Royal Mail no longer pay compensation for lost parcels for business use, unless you use Special delivery or Tracked. On Click and Drop what posting code do you use for your parcels?

Agree with Mr D, you just get the postman/postoffice to scan the barcode on the print out of that days post manifest. the free tracking for normal parcels works well.

 

[Mr D]

I thought Royal Mail no longer pay compensation for lost parcels for business use, unless you use Special delivery or Tracked. On Click and Drop what posting code do you use for your parcels?

Agree with Mr D, you just get the postman/postoffice to scan the barcode on the print out of that days post manifest. the free tracking for normal parcels works well.

CRL code.
I haven't bothered claiming in years, and since using click & drop tracking service all my INR claims have been resolved by being delivered.
If I was sending a valuable item (say a £50 plus item) then I'd use special delivery anyway - and yes would claim if went missing.

 

[FrontierMan]

We use Click & Drop / PPI , we enter the weight of each parcel, they go into a mail sack, then sealed with a cable tie and label, complete the manifest and print off, walk to the sub PO, put the sack down by the side of the counter with the others already there, and hand over the manifest. It gets collected from this sub PO twice a day, midday and 5.30pm. Only had 1 INR since using Clik & Drop for the last 20 months, and when I sent eBay customer service the screen shot of Royal Mail screen with the delivery date and time, they closed the case.

 

[bharris]

I haven't bothered claiming in years, and since using click & drop tracking service all my INR claims have been resolved by being delivered.

Agree we haven't needed to make a claim for a lost parcel for quite a number of years. The biggest issue we found was customers not putting their correct address in. We now check all addresses and since then Royal Mail have a 100% record. Unfortunately i cant say the same for couriers.

 

[Mr D]

Agree we haven't needed to make a claim for a lost parcel for quite a number of years. The biggest issue we found was customers not putting their correct address in. We now check all addresses and since then Royal Mail have a 100% record. Unfortunately i cant say the same for couriers.

It helps when royal mail have the correct address.

About 5 years back we were ordering mail supplies from royal mail every 6 months or so and having them delivered to the business next door. Royal Mail system didn't recognise our warehouse as an address, neither with business name or with site address number.

If we had ordered off you and you checked us out at the time on royal mail you would have told us the address wasn't coming up.

 

[bharris]

Its more the street address not matching the Postcode rather than number/name. You can also use other methods than Royal Mails data to lookup an address if you can be bothered such as for your business you could look at the websites contact details, companies house and just a search on google. If you cant find the address just ask the customer to confirm the delivery details.

 

[Mr D]

Its more the street address not matching the Postcode rather than number/name. You can also use other methods than Royal Mails data to lookup an address if you can be bothered such as for your business you could look at the websites contact details, companies house and just a search on google. If you cant find the address just ask the customer to confirm the delivery details.

Unless I'm concerned about the area I usually don't bother looking it up.
So far every 'no such address' I've had the item returned on has been a 'normal' looking address.
One was a mail centre in the midlands, a main sorting hub that royal mail couldn't find. So not entirely believing the stickers any more.

 

[MikeCC]

Not sure we have Click and Drop...

We pack the parcels, stick on the orange signed for labels, weigh them, enter the amount of parcels and the average weight into OBA, then do up the sacks, label them with the Docket Number and take the sacks to the PO. Not sure what the name for this is.

We haven't actually lost one yet since doing it this way, but customers are complaining that there is no tracking information online. All it says online when you enter the parcel number is that no tracking information will be available until delivery is attempted. When you hand the parcels over the counter individually, the tracking shows the time and date that the parcel was processed at the PO. That bit is missing because I guess they don't bother scanning the contents of the sacks at all.

No, it's not Click and Drop. Just dropping your mail at post office.
As before, the barcode stickers need to go in the orange book (like you did for collection) for scanning as 'bulk manifest' on their system. They don't enter the addresses of the packages or from the book. Same for Special Delivery/international tracked in the silver book although you put one copy in the bag.

BTW, you don't even need to use the orange book. You can print your own manifest eg from order system and add the barcode stickers.