Research into the quality and consistency of service standards and product knowledge across the post office network June 2017 Prepared by GfK Mystery Shopping 1 Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 6 1.1 Branch exterior and interior, including disabled facilities. 6 1.2 Second class large letter 7 1.3 Special Delivery 7 1.4 Royal Mail Signed For second class Letter 7 1.5 Royal Mail Signed For small parcel 8 1.6 International parcel 8 1.7 Cash withdrawal 8 1.8 Cash deposit 8 1.9 Business deposit 9 1.10 Passport Check and Send 9 1.11 Local Collect (re-delivery) and Amazon shopping 9 1.12 Parcel weight enquiry 9 2 Introduction and Research Objectives 10 2.1 Background 10 2.1.1 Restructuring the post office network 10 2.1.2 The Post Office Local and Local Plus models 10 2.1.3 Post Office Main model 11 2.1.4 Multiple retailers 11 2.1.5 The wider post office network 11 2.1.6 The performance of the post office network 12 2.2 Research Objectives 13 2.2.1 Measuring performance across the network. 14 3 Methodology 16 3.1 Sample 17 3.2 Shopper profiles 19 3.3 Scenarios 19 3.3.1 Second class large letter 20 3.3.2 Special Delivery 20 3.3.3 Royal Mail Signed For second class letter 20 3.3.4 Royal Mail Signed For small parcel 20 3.3.5 Royal Mail international standard parcel 20 3.3.6 Cash withdrawal 21 3.3.7 Cash deposit 21 3.3.8 Business deposit enquiry 21 3.3.9 Passport Check and Send enquiry 21 2 3.3.10 Local Collect 22 3.3.11 Collecting an item purchased via Amazon 22 3.3.12 Weight limit enquiry 22 4 Non Scenario Specific Findings 23 4.1 Visit issues 23 4.2 Exterior - signage, facilities and access 25 4.2.1 Facilities and signage 25 4.2.2 Access to outlet vicinity 26 4.2.3 Exterior access to outlet 26 4.3 Interior - signage, facilities and access 29 4.3.1 Interior access 29 4.3.2 Interior signage 31 4.3.3 Facilities for disabled customers 32 4.4 Counters and self-service machines 34 4.5 Waiting and queuing 38 4.6 Customer service 43 4.6.1 Counter service 43 4.6.2 Privacy 43 4.6.3 Staff competency 43 4.6.4 Shopper satisfaction levels. 45 4.7 Internal and external summary 46 5 Scenario Specific Findings – Quality of Advice 48 5.1 Second class large letter 49 5.1.1 Queries relating to the letter. 49 5.1.2 Staff solution – i.e. what the customer was offered. 49 5.1.3 Overview 51 5.1.4 Arrival details 52 5.1.5 Summary 52 5.2 Special Delivery 53 5.2.1 Scenario overview 53 5.2.2 Staff recommendation and queries. 53 5.2.3 Information relating to Special Delivery 54 5.2.4 Summary 55 5.3 Royal Mail Signed For second class letter 56 5.3.1 Initial advice and questioning 56 5.3.2 Staff solution – i.e. what the customer was offered initially 57 5.3.3 Staff questioning and solution – those offered multiple options initially 58 3 5.3.4 Staff solution – all shoppers not recommended the correct product as the only option 59 5.3.5 Arrival details 60 5.3.6 Overview 61 5.4 Royal Mail Signed For small parcel 62 5.4.1 Initial advice and questioning 63 5.4.2 Staff solution – i.e. what the customer was offered. 64 5.4.3 Staff questioning and solution – those offered multiple options initially 66 5.4.4 Staff solution – all shoppers not recommended the correct product as the only option 66 5.4.5 Arrival details 68 5.4.6 Overview 68 5.5 International parcel 69 5.5.1 Staff solution – i.e. what the customer was offered. 70 5.5.2 Additional questioning and recommended solution 71 5.5.3 Additional questioning and recommended solution – not offered a service spontaneously 71 5.5.4 Overview 73 5.6 Cash withdrawal 74 5.6.1 Ability to withdraw cash 74 5.6.2 Overview 75 5.7 Cash deposit 76 5.7.1 Ability to deposit cash 76 5.7.2 Cash deposit limits 78 5.7.3 Overview 78 5.8 Business deposit enquiry 79 5.8.1 Ability to use the business banking services. 79 5.8.2 Overview 80 5.9 Passport Check and Send 81 5.9.1 Passport check and send service offered. 81 5.9.2 Overview 83 5.10 Local Collect (re-delivery) and Amazon shopping 84 5.10.1 Availability of Local Collect service 84 5.10.2 Local Collect overview 85 5.10.3 Availability of Amazon collection service. 85 5.10.4 Amazon overview 87 5.11 Parcel weight limit enquiry 88 5.11.1 Information relating to parcel weight. 88 5.11.2 Parcel weight limit summary 88 6 Overall Visit Success 89 4 7 Specific Comparisons by Branch Type 92 7.1 PO Locals vs sub-post offices overview 92 7.1.1 Exterior 92 7.1.2 Interior 92 7.1.3 Customer service 94 7.1.4 Second class large letter scenario 95 7.1.5 Special Delivery scenario 96 7.1.6 Royal Mail Signed For second class letter 96 7.1.7 Royal Mail Signed For small parcel 97 7.1.8 Cash withdrawal 98 7.1.9 Business deposit enquiry 98 7.1.10 Local Collect and Amazon collection service 98 7.1.11 Parcel weight enquiry 99 7.1.12 Summary 99 8 Summary and Conclusions 100 1.12.1 Headlines 100 1.12.2 The main positives. 100 1.12.3 The main negatives. 101 5 1 Executive Summary The following summary provides an overview of the survey results and examines these at each individual section. This piece of work mirrored previous mystery shopping projects in understanding performance in different post office branches, using both mail and non-mail scenarios to assess the information provided by staff, as well as wider service measures such as access, facilities and general service. As such, comparisons have been made to previous studies where appropriate. This piece of work was different, however, as nearly every branch type across the post office network was assessed using the same questionnaire, in order to understand the performance of the network and draw comparisons across branch types where appropriate. 1.1 Branch exterior and interior, including disabled facilities. This section examines how easily the shoppers were able to conduct their assessments, including factors such as access, waiting times and staff performance: ● 2% of shoppers could not complete their visit due to the branch or post office counters / service positions being ‘unexpectedly’ closed. ● 70% of shoppers said there was parking ‘nearby’ (i.e. within 100 yards or so) increasing to 81% at PO Local and PO Main branches, but falling to 38% for WHSmith branches. ● The vast majority of branches had a visible Post Office sign or logo (98%), however a smaller proportion of branches displayed opening hours prominently (78%) and 69% of branches made references to Post Office services. This was particularly low in sub-post office branches at 46%. Where opening hours were displayed (n=1,403), the hours were the same as those displayed on the Post Office website in 95% of cases. ● In terms of access, 38% of branches had electronic doors (increasing to 80% in newly franchised Crowns) and 76% of branches had at least one, flat entrance wide enough for wheelchair access (increasing to 96% in newly franchised Crowns). ● The majority of post office counters were located on the ground floor (90%), but 8% of branches had counters on the first floor or higher (including 37% of WHSmith branches) and 2% had counters in the basement (including 7% of WHSmith branches). In branches where the post office counters were on a different floor, 75% had an internal lift. ● 77% of shoppers at PO Locals noted internal signage relating to the post office, although this was lower in sub-post offices (70%) and PO Locals (71%). ● In terms of accessibility, 92% of shoppers who assessed a branch with aisles felt that they were wide enough for wheelchairs (increasing to 99% of Crown branches and 97% of WHSmith and newly franchised branches) and obstacles were noticed in 5% of visits (increasing to 13% in sub-post offices). ● Over 6 in 10 branches (61%) had portable PIN pads, but other facilities for disabled customers were only available in less than half of branches as follows: including low level counter positions (47%), low level scales (37%), low level writing desk of shelf (41%) and hearing loops (41%). ● The average number of counters recorded was 3.0 on each visit, increasing to 4.5 in Crown branches; and 91% of branches had a dedicated post office counter (falling to 84% in PO Locals). ● Trade was described as either fairly or very quiet in 68% of assessments, compared to only 35% of assessments in WHSmith branches and 38% in Crowns. Indeed, 15% of Crown and 14% of WHSmith branches were classed as extremely busy. Lunchtime was the busiest time of the day. ● 49% of shoppers had to wait or queue (increasing to 80% in WHSmith and 77% in Crown branches) with an average waiting time of 3.21 minutes (increasing to 4.44 minutes in WHSmith branches).