Post Office Limited
| Post Office Ltd logo | |
| Company type | Wholly owned subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | postal service |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | 80-86 Old Street, London EC1V 9NN |
Area served | United Kingdom |
| Parent | Royal Mail Group plc |
| Website | postoffice.co.uk |
Post Office Ltd (Welsh: Swyddfa'r Post Cyf.; Scottish Gaelic: oifig a' phuist) is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of products including postage stamps and banking to the public through its nationwide network of post office branches.
Structure
Post Office Ltd was separated from the postal service Royal Mail in 1986 but remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group Ltd. A large number of its branches are under franchise agreements.
There are currently around 14,000 Post Office branches across the UK of which approximately 370 are directly managed by Post Office Ltd. (known as Crown Post Offices). The majority of branches are either run by multiple franchise partners or local subpostmaster agents.
Services
The Post Office has a wide variety of services throughout the network of branches. Products and services available vary throughout the network; main post offices generally provide the full range of services.
In towns, post offices are usually open from around 9am to 5.30pm on Monday to Friday and from 9am to 12.30pm on Saturday. In some country areas, opening hours are much shorter — perhaps only four hours per week. Most post offices are shut on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Postal services
The Post Office provides information on services and accepts postal items and payment on behalf of the two collection and delivery divisions of the Royal Mail group, Royal Mail and Parcelforce. These include a variety of ordinary and guaranteed services both for delivery within the United Kingdom and to international destinations. Postage stamps (including commemorative stamps and other philatelic items), airletters and international reply coupons are sold, while applications for redirection of mail are accepted on behalf of Royal Mail.
Post Office Local Collect is a scheme whereby undelivered mail can be redirected at customer request to a post office for convenient collection. Poste restante mail can also be held for collection by people travelling.
Banking services
Personal banking services are offered on behalf of a number of "partner banks" that the Post Office has agreements with. Although different services are available on behalf of different institutions, these may include cash withdrawals, paying in cash and cheques, balance enquiries and cheque encashment. Some post offices also have cash machines, mainly provided by Bank of Ireland.
The Post Office Card Account is a basic bank account allowing customers to collect benefit payments. Most other basic accounts can also be accessed through post offices.
Business banking services are also offered, mainly through Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank (the successor to the Post Office Girobank).
Savings products
The Post Office has long been an agent for National Savings and Investments, which was originally the Post Office Savings Bank but is now a wholly separate institution. Information is available for most NS&I products, including Premium Bonds, and numerous transactions can be carried out in post offices.
In recent years the Post Office has launched its own range of branded savings products, which are sometimes in competition with those offered by NS&I. Currently available are an instant access account (Instant Saver) and two fixed term investments (Five Year Saver and Growth Bond). A Post Office ISA is set to be launched later in 2008.
Telephony
The Post Office operates as a provider of a home landline telephone service (branded as Post Office HomePhone) and has recently added broadband internet to its portfolio.
Mobile phone E Top-up is available on behalf of most networks. Post Office branded prepay phonecards are available, offering potential savings particularly on international call rates.
Insurance and financial services
The Post Office is now seeking to establish itself as a financial service provider and provides a number of branded insurance products including for cars, vans and motorbikes; home insurance (buildings and/or contents); pet insurance and travel insurance. Life insurance, over 50s life cover and lifestyle protection insurance are also available. Insurance products are underwritten by Budget.
The Post Office is now offering itself as a provider of credit cards and mortgages, and also offers personal loans, although the latter are now marketed purely through the company's website and not through the branch network.
Bill payments
A number of bill payments can be accepted on behalf of a variety of organisations including utilities, local authorities and others. These can be in the form of automated payments (barcoded bills, swipe cards, key charging) or manual transactions through the Alliance & Leicester Transcash system.
Government services
Check and send services are available for applications made to several government institutions, including the IPS (for British passport applications), DVLA (for driving licences) and the Department of Health (for the European Health Insurance Card). Fishing licences are issued on behalf of the Environment Agency from branches in England and Wales. Selected branches sell tax discs for Vehicle excise duty and a smaller number issue international driving permits.
Travel services
Bureau de change services are offered by all post offices, many branches have on demand currency and traveller's cheques while the remainder offer a pre-order service. There is also a Post Office branded pre-paid Travel Money Card. As mentioned above, services are offered for passports and EHIC. Additionally, the Post Office offers car hire and airport parking deals, although not directly through branches.
Other services
Other services offered include the sale and encashment of Postal Orders; Post Office Savings Stamps and Christmas Club; gift vouchers for certain High Street merchants; National Lottery games; and retail items such as stationery. The Post Office also distributes its own free customer magazine, Posted!.
Restructuring
The government has given a £1.7 billion subsidy to Royal Mail so that it can turn a profit by 2011. This will be used to invest across the whole Royal Mail Group network, which is made up of Royal Mail, Post Office Ltd and Post Office Ltd.
85 Crown Post Offices are to close, 70 of which will be moved into branches of WH Smith. This follows a trial of six Post Office Outlets in WH Smith stores. WH Smith is expected to make up to £2.5 million extra in its annual profits.
The closure of 2,500 sub-Post Offices will commence over the next 18 months. Redundancy packages will be provided from public funding, (subpostmasters are to get over 20 months pay, roughly £65,000, to close).[1]