AddressPal from Anpost. Similar to Parcel Motel and Parcel Wizard.

22-04-2016 11:42AM

Aisling71 wrote: »

I placed my order on5th March. Royal mail tracking has shown delivery on 8th March in St Albans. Still no sign of my package, emailed them about it and was told that most parcels were arriving without AP account details and was asked for full details of package ie contents, Manufacturer and company shipped through. As all of this was in the original email I was left banging my head against a wall. Resent the details and got an email saying they will look into it, the package has been missing for 12 daysnow. I dont think the 1€ saving from parcel motel is worth it. Womt use them again.

I agree, it seems to be amateur hour stuff alright. used them once. won't again.

mirec · 22-04-2016 12:26PM

how do you save 1euro over parcel motel ? I am topping up 35 euro with parcel motel

€4.50 Top Up Bonus
If you top up by €35 or more in a single payment we will add €4.50 to your account*.

and then one delivery is same as addresspal 3,5 per item

Corholio · 22-04-2016 01:12PM

It's a 45 cent saving compared to Parcel Motel. AddressPal is €3.50, Parcel Motel is €3.95.

mirec · 22-04-2016 01:29PM

Corholio wrote: »

It's a 45 cent saving compared to Parcel Motel. AddressPal is €3.50, Parcel Motel is €3.95.

if you top up 35 euro you get 39,5 euro which you can use for 10 deliveries so one delivery is 3,5 euro.

So no difference between addresspal and parcelmotel for me.

22-04-2016 03:19PM

Aisling71 wrote: »

I placed my order on5th March. Royal mail tracking has shown delivery on 8th March in St Albans. Still no sign of my package, emailed them about it and was told that most parcels were arriving without AP account details and was asked for full details of package ie contents, Manufacturer and company shipped through. As all of this was in the original email I was left banging my head against a wall. Resent the details and got an email saying they will look into it, the package has been missing for 12 daysnow. I dont think the 1€ saving from parcel motel is worth it. Womt use them again.

I wonder if stuff is getting nicked.
I was onto them by phone and they are using some other company to handle stuff in the UK.
Seems completely disorganised in any case compared to parcel motel etc.
I just hope that I eventually get my item (worth a few hundred quid so I'd better).

22-04-2016 03:47PM

glasso wrote: »

I wonder if stuff is getting nicked.
I was onto them by phone and they are using some other company to handle stuff in the UK.
Seems completely disorganised in any case compared to parcel motel etc.
I just hope that I eventually get my item (worth a few hundred quid so I'd better).

https://addresspal.anpost.ie/Home/FAQ#Q15

15. Is the item insured
No, your item is not insured. All AddressPal items are handled securely.

Really...?

Dan Jaman · 22-04-2016 04:45PM

glasso wrote: »

https://addresspal.anpost.ie/Home/FAQ#Q15

15. Is the item insured
No, your item is not insured. All AddressPal items are handled securely.

Really...?

Istr a figure of 40 quid being mentioned, but that's the limit.

Berty · 22-04-2016 04:58PM

At least Parcel Motel is €100 unless you pay extra to increase your liability temporarily.

I don't know about DPD. I would like to know more about Addresspal handling though and their liability but seems by emailing them I'll get the email equivalent of a blank stare.

The_Conductor · 22-04-2016 05:07PM

Txt message received just before lunch advising my parcel has arrived.
I collected it at lunch (have to remember never to visit a post office on a Friday again- if I can help it- the queue out the door was like nothing I have ever seen). It was well packaged- and had been well treated. An Post did in fact use the Hermes barcode on the item- and had it logged into their system with this.

No issue collecting the parcel- just showed my ID and paid my 3.50
The guy said that post office (Lucan Village) was getting quite a large volume of AP parcels (3 more were collected by other people at lunchtime and a few this morning- as per the register I had to sign.

All-in-all- it wasn't a bad experience- the worst part of the whole lot was queuing for 25 minutes to get to the counter (and there were 3 open counters- fully staffed and extremely busy).

I'd have no hesitation in using the service again (and this is from someone who just sent antique pottery through the system...........)

Well done An Post.

22-04-2016 05:27PM

I think Friday is pension day = chaos! Lots of old people who are extremely slow paying ten Euro off about 7 different bills.

The_Conductor · 22-04-2016 05:41PM

Deleted User wrote: »

I think Friday is pension day = chaos! Lots of old people who are extremely slow paying ten Euro off about 7 different bills.

I live, I learn.......

One thing though- if An Post insist on running all manner of services- other than postal services- from Post Offices- the very least they can do- is dedicate a counter or give priority to those- actually using postal services.........

22-04-2016 05:47PM

You're right. That would be the sensible thing to do. Except you're forgetting this is Ireland.

Corholio · 22-04-2016 06:55PM

mirec wrote: »

if you top up 35 euro you get 39,5 euro which you can use for 10 deliveries so one delivery is 3,5 euro.

So no difference between addresspal and parcelmotel for me.

I was just saying the difference between the actual prices, the topping up by 35 euro is completely separate as a small number of people would do that.

firestarter51 · 22-04-2016 07:50PM

I've had problems with motel and wizard
So far no problems with address pal, several items all arrived around the 3-4 timeframe
I use them all for their different merits.
Parcel motel had an item delivered to them on the 12th and I emailed them to say the seller (asda) never puts the number on
No problem they said we will look out for it
Did they ? No lol, several emails and tweets later
Got it this morning, had to use them as it was a bundle of kids clothes and address pal size restrictions is a problem

22-04-2016 08:42PM

after a couple of calls and emails - got my item tracked down.
imo the addresspal id is too long - using online purchasing there is usually a limit on characters that get printed on labels.
means that it might get abbreviated when put after a name and some address line layouts for online purchases mean that you have to use the name line to stick it in after your name.
they said that the addresspal code was incomplete - it was probably abbreviated or some of it put on a second line - will have to see when i pick up the item.
maybe you can just put the address pal id with no name?

Dan Jaman · 22-04-2016 09:41PM

glasso wrote: »

after a couple of calls and emails - got my item tracked down.
imo the addresspal id is too long - using online purchasing there is usually a limit on characters that get printed on labels.
means that it might get abbreviated when put after a name and some address line layouts for online purchases mean that you have to use the name line to stick it in after your name.
they said that the addresspal code was incomplete - it was probably abbreviated or some of it put on a second line - will have to see when i pick up the item.
maybe you can just put the address pal id with no name?

The overly-long code fails in two major ways
1. Many senders won't bother with it if they have to manually write it out and / or simply get it wrong
2. Many, if not most, address labels won't be able to cope with it, even if it's cut and pasted on the sender's PC.

Honestly, if there was a prize for the most inept way of doing this, that would be the clear winner. Apart from that, the service is fine. I'm happy enough with it, as it gets items to me that senders wouldn't otherwise have posted to NI, and what's more, they get to my local PO, which I'm passing regularly. The other parcel services require a special trip to fetch items that have been dropped off.

Mourinho · 22-04-2016 10:07PM

Have An Post any notion of offering insurance yet? Be handy for items like phones and that and would use this service for everything if they did.

Only risked small items like €20 so far and it's been great.

danjo-xx · 23-04-2016 08:56PM

If I was to write my name as Mr Joe Soap, including the two spaces, total characters comes to 18. Iv'e written the AP code in as shown including the 3 spaces and it comes to 20 characters.

Both on their own lines with nothing else included.

Surely the system could handle that. Or

1. Should I drop the Mr in my name
2. Drop the spaces in the AP code.
3. What typically is the max number of characters to use for best practice.

25-04-2016 02:07PM

Got my item - the code was chopped on the label - that was the issue.
I'm not sure if I'd use it again unless there was a fair difference in the postage cost to NI vs mainland UK.
If you are using it I'd recommend putting the code on it's own line.
That's not always possible (many addresses layouts when buying online allow for only 1 address line (before town/city)) and doesn't mitigate someone handwriting it incorrectly.
The length of the code was not thought out in terms of the end-user use case.
Obviously the code id's the post office, the end customer and maybe other stuff like the sorting office in different segments whereas the other systems parcel motel etc just have the user identifier.
it's just too long.

danjo-xx · 25-04-2016 08:59PM

This is the way I filled out my address details on Amazon.

Joe%20Soap%202_zpsmcrccakj.jpg

and this is the way it shows on an order confirmation email.

JOE%20SOAP_zps3xmcuy9y.jpg

I was hoping the post code would show up on a line of it's own.

26-04-2016 01:07PM

danjo-xx wrote: »

This is the way I filled out my address details on Amazon.

and this is the way it shows on an order confirmation email.

I was hoping the post code would show up on a line of it's own.

I got the confirmation email showing the complete code but it was chopped on the actual label when I received the item.

stanley1 · 26-04-2016 01:32PM

has anyone tried leaving out the Acrewood way bit.

The_Conductor · 26-04-2016 02:13PM

stanley1 wrote: »

has anyone tried leaving out the Acrewood way bit.

Sounds very Winnie the Pooh!

No- though- I left out my own name- included the full AP code- and managed to somehow squash the rest of the address into the allowable fields.

Dan Jaman · 26-04-2016 04:33PM

AP Number(blah)
AirBus U5
AL4 0JY
Is all it really needs, but labelling software often won't allow that.

editorsean · 03-05-2016 07:11PM

I'm now trying AddressPal for the first time and unsurprisingly ended up with the courier getting a truncated address.

I placed an order on eBay from a UK seller and entered the fields just like glasso showed above.

I just received a DPD notification e-mail mentioning that my parcel is out for delivery and the destination address.

Thankfully it has the complete AP # line, but the Address Line 2 got truncated to "Air Business, Unit 5, The Merlin Ce".

So as for stanley1's suggestion, I'll soon find out as 'ntre, Acrewood Way' has been chopped off and Hertfordshire is also left out.

danjo-xx · 03-05-2016 08:25PM

danjo-xx wrote: »

This is the way I filled out my address details on Amazon.

and this is the way it shows on an order confirmation email.

I was hoping the post code would show up on a line of it's own.

And this is the way it printed out on the label, one hell of a long line there but got away with it this time.

ADDRESS%20PAL_zpstkcyygxq.jpg

SpannerMonkey · 03-05-2016 08:31PM

ive used address pal 7 or 8 times now always perfect . very handy service. and the fact that it has an english address instead of a northern irish one has come in handy aswell

danjo-xx · 03-05-2016 08:50PM

Got my first delivery today, and even with the bank holiday w/e it arrived pretty quick..

I've just changed my address a bit on amazon, like this,

Town/City: Acrewood Way St Albans,

Probably confuse the scanning gear, or would this be better

Town/City: St Albans, Acrewood Way

The_Conductor · 04-05-2016 06:54AM

How long is it taking for An Post to send out the cards?
I accidentally used Herts for a delivery for a few replacement LCD panels for laptops at the weekend- DHL'ed from China....... Kicking myself- I hate the way ebay grabs the last address used for your next order....... Whatever about that antique denby being delicate- depending on how these panels are packaged- they are a whole lot less resilient. Also- my guarantee obviously was as far as the desk in Herts- when it got handed over.

I'm kicking myself........

firestarter51 · 04-05-2016 07:05AM

The_Conductor wrote: »

How long is it taking for An Post to send out the cards?
I accidentally used Herts for a delivery for a few replacement LCD panels for laptops at the weekend- DHL'ed from China....... Kicking myself- I hate the way ebay grabs the last address used for your next order....... Whatever about that antique denby being delicate- depending on how these panels are packaged- they are a whole lot less resilient. Also- my guarantee obviously was as far as the desk in Herts- when it got handed over.

I'm kicking myself........

eBay doesn't grab the address as you put it
When you go to pay it opens the PayPal window with the address there and for me I can select 4 different address options, I always check the Irish one as some sellers don't charge much from China to Ireland.
Use the email and ID to collect it you won't need the card

AddressPal from Anpost. Similar to Parcel Motel and Parcel Wizard.

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