Post office customer service consultants work behind the counter in post offices. They serve customers and help them with a wide range of services while promoting goods and meeting sales targets.
The Work
You could be:
promoting goods and services to customers and doing your best to meet sales targets
weighing and measuring parcels and letters, working out postage costs and selling stamps
dealing with financial services, such as benefits and pensions payments, savings accounts and premium bonds
dealing with foreign exchange and health and travel insurance and helping customers apply for passports
processing customer payments for electricity, gas, phones, road tax and TV licenses
keeping records and making sure the books balance at the end of each day
in some cases, selling goods in a shop attached to the post office, such as small gifts or greetings cards
ensuring that the shop is clean and tidy and that stock is displayed appropriately.
Pay
The figures below are only a guide. Actual pay rates may vary, depending on:
where you work
whether you work for a post office or a sub-post office
the demand for the job.
Current salary for a post office customer service consultant in Scotland is usually around £17,200 to £22,000 a year. There is a final salary pension scheme. There may also be discounts on financial products such as insurance and credit cards.
Conditions
You would work in a post office, which may be based in a newsagent or supermarket.
It can sometimes be very busy, and you could be under pressure with queues to deal with, each customer wanting something different.
You would work 5 days between Monday and Saturday, with possibly one late evening during the week.
Part time work and temporary contracts are common.
You may have to wear a uniform which the organisation will provide.
The first stage of application is an online questionnaire. If you are selected to attend for assessment, you will be required to complete an interview and discuss your work history over the past 5 years and provide two referees.
Previous experience in shop, office or bank work is helpful.
good at listening to customers to find out what they need
able to work quickly and accurately when busy
able to remain calm, even when there is a long queue
persuasive when promoting products
well organised
good at working in a team
trustworthy.
Training
Your initial training would cover such matters as accounting, paying benefits, issuing of licenses, using the computer systems and customer care.
You might also attend short courses from time to time to update your knowledge.
Getting On
You might move on within the Post Office organisation to be a supervisor, an assistant manager and then a post office manager.
After suitable experience, you might consider running your own business as the owner of a sub-post office.
You may also be able to move to the Royal Mail Group to an administrative or managerial job at regional headquarters or in one of their other sectors.
The Royal Mail Group also run a number of graduate programmes and apprenticeships.
More Information
Post Office Limited has the largest retail network in Europe. It has over 11,500 post office branches across the UK, with over 17 million customer visits.
2022
