The new Post Office

Fri 13 Jul 2018, 11:17

That's very good news Elaine.

Fri 13 Jul 2018, 11:13 (last edited on Fri 13 Jul 2018, 11:17)

just to let everyone know that I am now covering the Post Office Monday-Friday 1.30- 5.30 quite a few people have been asking and wondering when I was working . I hope to see many of my old and hopefully some new customers soon . Larcums's in Market Street will be open 9.15- 5.15 Mon- Friday and Saturday 9.15- 1pm

Sun 24 Jun 2018, 19:07

Far better to manage expectations by limiting opening hours, gradually extending them once you have sufficient trained staff, than promise something that, at least from the outset, you cannot deliver. My sympathies are with the staff, not the Coop.The service does seem to be getting better.

Sun 24 Jun 2018, 11:56

the Co-op still has a sign outside saying that the Post Office hours are 0700 - 2200, seven days a week.

Fri 22 Jun 2018, 20:14

Well Amanda the Post Office have handled the transition badly. Nowhere near enough staff have been trained to do the work outside usual hours. It seems to me that some people are expecting more from a diminished resource. In time it will work better, patience is required. We could, after all, have lost all Post Office facilities.

Fri 22 Jun 2018, 20:03

According to the letter sent out by the Post Office announcing the decision to move to the Coop the hours would be the same as the shop, including Saturday afternoons and Sundays.

Thu 21 Jun 2018, 14:53

The opening hours for the Post Office are as they were
before 9:00 until 17:30. Just because the co op is open it does not mean the post office is open.
Tim Gosling

Thu 21 Jun 2018, 14:26

Went to the Coop to post a parcel at 6.15 pm yesterday to find a note attached saying "Sorry we are closed". A passing assistant told me there were no trained staff available!

Sat 16 Jun 2018, 08:18

I'm with Ed. Use it or loose it! Practice makes better! It's a skilled and under-valued job running a post office. Hats off to everyone who tries. Thank you Elaine.

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 22:19

Ah! That would be the answer; the Co-op employs Elaine full-time, and she "mans" the post office till/queue! Result!!

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 19:13

Elaine was at the helm at 5pm today

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 18:32

I couldn't agree with you more Ed!

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 14:39

Phil getting worried because I'm agreeing with you again!

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 14:36

Ed, you are right on the button! The passion in your response is well placed. It seems that so many people want to place blame while it is bleedin' obvious that everybody is trying to do their best. As my old mum always said, "some people don't know they're born".

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 14:05

I'm quite certain that the people of Charlbury must have gone on major strike at the invention of the wheel...

A typically short-sighted response from a town that does not seem to recognise its own privilege. We have facilities and opportunities that other areas of West Oxfordshire facing real rural poverty must dream of, and yet it's never good enough. We are so lucky, and yet the majority of this forum are quick to criticise anything new or different.

The old Post Office had a whole selection of sweets available at child-eye height right next to the till, and it also often had long queues. The queue in the Co-Op has always snaked up that aisle, likely unintentionally, and so this is hardly something we can leap on as a sign of major undoing (or terrible slight) on the part of the Post Office. No one is overlooking how hard it must have been for Elaine to have been at the helm of the old PO for the last couple of years and the part the management must have played in that.

We are so lucky to have retained a post office service that for the most part is efficient and effective, as well as accessible to all in the village (including those with mobility issues and who work/live in Charlbury at non-traditional hours). We must allow the staff to learn their roles, and as other posters state, for the Co-Op to amend the process as they learn what works and what doesn't. As with anything new, it's only by trialling it that you know how to improve it.

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 11:51

Surely just teething problems? The staff there were very helpful yesterday... I feel extremely grateful we still have a post office. Our local post office in Oxford shut down years ago, so it was into central Oxford whenever I needed to post anything. Talk about queues! Often my whole lunchbreak would be taken up with waiting in the line.
Having a little wait (with two young children in tow) yesterday was easy peasy in comparison. Feel very lucky we still have this service. Many don't sadly. I'm sure a system will be put in place soon to remedy the queue system. These things always take time to settle into place.

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 10:23

I will say, as a user of the Post Office on a regular basis. That the original Post Office had sweets, right by the counter, 5 penny chews, pick and mix etc.

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 08:53

Perhaps the queue for the shop could go up the next aisle or they could move the display cupboard on the right so there could be two queues.
I am sure they will sort it.

Fri 15 Jun 2018, 08:16

As a parent, I particularly enjoy the floor-to-ceiling wall of sweets that lines to very long queue to the till. It makes for such a fun experience with young kids. Other supermarkets manage to have healthy tills, maybe the Coop could consider this, particularly as the queuing will presumably get worse with the Post Office counter now.

Thu 14 Jun 2018, 21:26

It's bad enough that the queue in The Co-op goes on for an eternity and visitors have no idea of where the queue begins but now you have to stand in the same very long queue and when you get to the end you have to wait for someone to man the Post Office.... What a ridiculous idea to think that this would be a suitable venue for a service that is clearly in such high demand!Bring back the old Post Office.... Please.

Thu 14 Jun 2018, 19:24

"it's not a dogshow that the Coop particularly wanted."

Hmm, not sure about that - they wouldn't have bid for it if they didn't want it - no obligation to run one. There is a danger in anyone having a monopoly, even the Coop.

The Coop staff are doing their best to learn PO business, but I still reckon that's a bridge too far, and we have effectively lost one checkout till to boot.

Sun 10 Jun 2018, 03:45

"I do hope that the staff trained to serve at the PO counter get some supplement to their wages. "

Whilst I share your sentiment, alas this doesn't happen in the real world. Large companies expect more and more for the same money with the attitude that if you don't like it, close the door on your way out! They are paying people to work not stand around after all...

Sat 9 Jun 2018, 19:22

I haven't had occasion to use it yet but I think the staff should be cut a bit of slack. They're still being trained. I think it's great that it's open all day every day and that we have the facility.
I do hope that the staff trained to serve at the PO counter get some supplement to their wages.

Sat 9 Jun 2018, 17:58

Considering what had been written about the fiasco in Charlbury, I decided to use Woodstock PO yesterday, as I had a very urgent matter to attend to, and in fact had to go there not once but twice. Linda was an absolute hero. Apparently they have been inundated with people from Charlbury since this all started.

Sat 9 Jun 2018, 17:31

Cannon pool garage on hailey road take Hermes parcels and also sell stamps
Or you can use finstock post office Karen is very helpful

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 23:35

Well, I used the co-op post office this morning and it all went smoothly & quickly. Compared with the railway timetable fiasco that other areas of the country face daily it is a minor problem.

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 14:28 (last edited on Sat 9 Jun 2018, 09:43)

It seems to me that the "overly harsh and pessimistic comments" have been aimed at The Post Office rather than The Co-op and l would've thought they were justified bearing in mind the amount of time they've apparently had to prepare for the move.

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 13:39

Indeed Alex. As did I. I did wonder what would happen as it seemed a conflict of interest.

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 11:15

@Vicky - no, the Hermes arrangement stopped to allow for the new Post Office. Shame, as I found it much handier and better value than Royal Mail.

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 10:46

I'm told that most of the staff in the Coop have yet to even start the Post Office training process, & even the Team Leaders are still trying to learn the details of the system.

It might be "an utter dogshow" at present, but it's not a dogshow that the Coop particularly wanted. And we do need to give the Coop & its staff time to adjust. Some of the comments here seem overly harsh & pessimistic.

It's not as if there were any other sensible alternatives on offer. I'm sure I'm not alone in preferring a Post Office counter in the Coop (however inadequate) to a mobile van (which seems to have been the only realistic alternative).

Yes, the Chipping Norton arrangement is much better. But how on earth might something similar have fitted within the confined space of the Charlbury Coop?

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 09:30

Well don't forget here at Cotswold Frames we sell stamps and we are also a UPS pick up and drop off point, Oh and no long queue !

Fri 8 Jun 2018, 07:51

It's only been running for a short time. Writing it off as a disaster is a bit dramatic at this point.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 19:33 (last edited on Fri 8 Jun 2018, 08:08)

Totally agree the Post Office needs to man the office by trained full time Post Office staff. The co-op employs staff on a mainly part time basis on a shift rota, and so numerous people have been "trained" to know all the in and outs of a very complex mail system. Totally unfair to them and the general public.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 19:28

Does the Charlbury Co-op still handle Hermes parcels?

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 19:17

It can't help the Co-Op's core business either. An utter dogshow which is no fault of the lovely staff.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 18:41

Fundamentally the concept is flawed. Coop staff who are used to scanning products then pressing a touch screen to total and automatically calculate change are now being expected to work their way through the complexities of UK and international postage in its many variants. A bridge too far?

The Post Office in Chipping Norton is located within the Coop but is entirely separately staffed and has its own dedicated location away from other tills. Quite a different arrangement altogether.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 16:20

If you don't mind travelling a short distance, I have never experienced these problems at Shipton post office. The staff there are usually very helpful.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 15:59 (last edited on Thu 7 Jun 2018, 16:57)

I too have experienced terrible service, not the fault of the staff - but inadequate staffing and training. I have had to leave the post office in Charlbury because they could not process my signed for post, and visit my local post office on my way home, but by the time I get there, it is too late to catch that day's post and this has happened on several occasions now. It is a shambles and I do feel sorry for the staff.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 15:53

Some people have already defected to Finstock. I am now using Royal Mail's Click and Drop online service to pay for and print out postage. Elaine still sells stamps at Larcum's.

Thu 7 Jun 2018, 15:07 (last edited on Thu 7 Jun 2018, 15:40)

I have just been, wrongly it turns out, charged £6.50 - and queued 25 minutes - to send a small registered letter at the new Post Office counter at the Co-Op. Is there any sense at all that this venture is working and that we shouldn't travel to Witney or wherever to do our post? I feel sorry for the poor staff there.