National Express tickets now at Post Offices

[radamfi]

I noticed today when I popped into a post office that they now sell National Express tickets there. Having looked at the Post Office website, small post offices seem to sell them, which means that for many people, their nearest National Express outlet is now the post office.

The main reason for going to an agency rather than booking online is to avoid the £1 booking fee. Does anyone know whether or not the post office charges a fee?

 

[howittpie]

Post office have been selling Nat Ex tickets for at least 4 months as they are an agent they will not be charging a fee it is just like buying a ticket from TFL staff at Victoria Coach Station you just pay the fare and nothing else.

 

[transportphoto]

I don't think there is anywhere you can go to avoid the £1 booking fee... one downside is that 'FunFares' are only available online, so for me, whenever I make a National Express booking, as much as I'd like to buy face to face at the Post Office it works out more expensive.

The £1 Booking Fee definitely applies at the Post Office, through experience... I will find something online bear with.

Also... it would seem the training gone out with them isn't great, when I tried to book at Sheringham Post Office, it took three members of staff, including the branch manager, to get us half way...

TP

 

[embers25]

I noticed today when I popped into a post office that they now sell National Express tickets there. Having looked at the Post Office website, small post offices seem to sell them, which means that for many people, their nearest National Express outlet is now the post office.

The main reason for going to an agency rather than booking online is to avoid the £1 booking fee. Does anyone know whether or not the post office charges a fee?

The local one in Kingfield Woking sells tickets with no sign indicating they charge fees. I'll have to ask. Then again they always have a huge queue whenever I'm there.

 

[Titfield]

hmm Back in the 1980s (and presumably before) National Express had hundreds of agents. I worked for a travel agency in the suburb of a medium sized town and there were three nat ex agencies within 1/2 a mile.
However National Express then started a policy of closing agencies who didn't meet a productivity (turnover) target. The number of agencies was reduced very considerably indeed.
It now seems that they are trying to recreate the agency network of old. It seems somewhat odd given the ubiquity of the internet.

 

[radamfi]

I don't think there is anywhere you can go to avoid the £1 booking fee... one downside is that 'FunFares' are only available online, so for me, whenever I make a National Express booking, as much as I'd like to buy face to face at the Post Office it works out more expensive.

As already mentioned, Victoria Coach Station doesn't charge a fee, and I guess that is officially an 'agency'. I have also bought tickets without a fee at TfGM offices in Greater Manchester. Obviously this doesn't apply to Funfares, where there appears to be no way of avoiding the £1 fee.
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hmm Back in the 1980s (and presumably before) National Express had hundreds of agents. I worked for a travel agency in the suburb of a medium sized town and there were three nat ex agencies within 1/2 a mile.
However National Express then started a policy of closing agencies who didn't meet a productivity (turnover) target. The number of agencies was reduced very considerably indeed.
It now seems that they are trying to recreate the agency network of old. It seems somewhat odd given the ubiquity of the internet.

Even Megabus sell tickets at various bus stations. I suppose they prefer you to buy tickets online, but they don't lose anything if extra sales are made at agencies if they wouldn't have been made otherwise. Presumably agencies were able to charge higher commissions in the old days as that was the main way of buying tickets. Nowadays, I expect that commissions are on a percentage of sales or per ticket, as coach tickets will only be a small part of an agent's business.

 

[Welshman]

It now seems that they are trying to recreate the agency network of old. It seems somewhat odd given the ubiquity of the internet.

Especially as many of the traditional town centre Post Offices seem to be being closed, with the franchise being taken by a supermarket/other shop, where the post-office counter is relegated to a small corner, where retail space is at a premium before it is proposed extra business be transacted.

 

[Titfield]

The commission was 10% so hardly a fortune given the gross fare.

We also used to get many enquiries that didn't result in a ticket sale.

 

[radamfi]

I went to a small post office today to buy a regular single ticket and the clerk said she had never sold a ticket before. She then read out what it said on the screen and it said that there is a £1 fee, so I declined to purchase the ticket at that point.

I then went to Crawley bus station ticket office, operated by Metrobus, and was able to buy the ticket without the £1 fee.

 

[Deerfold]

Interesting.

When Natex were encouraging online sales in the early 2000s the big selling point was that there wan't a booking fee compared with a travel agent.

I well remember my 2 quid return London to Leeds to see a band around 2003 - definitely no booking fee on that one.

 

[Titfield]

As far as I know a lot of the agents for coach ticket sales in the pre National Express days were not travel agents / bus offices but were literally newsagents and other small retailers.

The excellent www.countybus.co.uk website under the feature on Shamrock and Rambler shows a list of agents for Shamrock and Rambler that is an eclectic mix of retailers.