The Post Office is now accepting American Express

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In one swoop, the Post Office has become the largest retail network in the UK to accept American Express cards. As of last week, all 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK are accepting Amex for transactions for which they would previously have accepted a Mastercard or Visa.

At present, this only applies to transactions which you complete at a counter. Self-service stamp printing machines will accept Amex from the end of the year but will take some time to convert them all. It is also not yet possible to use American Express for online Post Office purchases.

To quote from the press release:

“We want to make it as easy as possible to access our services through longer opening hours and by offering the widest range of payment options. We have the largest presence of any retailer in the UK, and this move will help the 17 million customers who visit us each week. Accepting American Express Cards at all of our branches allows us to open the door to more customers giving them flexibility and choice when it comes to paying for goods or services.”

What is not clear is exactly what transactions can be done with a credit card at a Post Office. It is obviously OK when buying stamps or stationery. I assume that the One4All gift cards which you can buy at a Post Office are also included although these can be tricky to use. It is no longer possible to buy a TV Licence at a Post Office so that knocks out one potential option.

My initial view is that this is less exciting than it first appears, but you never know.

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British Airways BA Amex American Express card

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Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

The_Real_A says:

13 Apr13 April 09:34

Im not sure i agree that one-for-all is difficult to spend. Its valid just about anywhere on the high street… wilko, debenhams, fraser, boots matalan, primark, currys, B&Q, WH Smiths etc etc

I found its sister card lovetoshop a very useful route to bring forward spend for CC bonus.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 12:09
  
  That’s true. I was thinking more about using them at places which don’t accept Amex – which might still include B&Q.
  
  You can now cash out One4All cards via Amazon to get rid of the last penny, they even have a special Amazon subsite to do it. I got one of these cards last year from, of all people, Google when I took part in some research for them.
  - Tom H says:
    
    14 Apr14 April 13:40
    
    Tesco sell B&Q gift cards.
    - Andy says:
      
      15 Apr15 April 10:53
      
      Yep, they sure do. And as a tradesman that spends a great deal of money at B&Q all of my transactions get paid using the gift cards bought at Tesco.
      Last year I purchased over £15K of gift cards from Tesco to use there.
Mark says:

13 Apr13 April 09:38

FYI it will not be for postal orders as i could not even use a debit card to get them last week when i needed some for a visa application…
amex? says:

13 Apr13 April 09:43

My council charges 1.75% fee on credit card council tax payments @ the Post Office. Presuming there is no cash advance fee from Amex on top, does this look acceptable for a 2 Avios per £1 card?

200 Avios = £1.75

0.875p/Avios

Presuming it works of course
- Rob says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 12:07
  
  I would say it is marginal on that basis but it depends entirely on how you redeem. I generally assume I can get 0.75 to 1p per point so I would not pay 0.875p. However, if you would otherwise end up buying points directly from BA at 1.6p or if it helps you reach the target to trigger a sign-up bonus then it is more attractive.
  - Joep says:
    
    13 Apr13 April 12:09
    
    Oh dear we replied at the same time! 😛
- Joep says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 12:09
  
  You’re essentially buying 200 Avios for £1.75, which is 0.875p/mile, not 8.75p.
  
  It might be worth it, but that’s borderline considering the devaluation. It all depends how you personally value Avios. It’s a pretty small number of miles anyway so it’s probably not worth the hassle if you have to go out of your way to pay it at the Post Office.
Paul says:

13 Apr13 April 10:19

According to the post office website, they only accept cash, cheque or debit cards for bill payments. Has anyone ever managed to pay any bill at the PO with a credit card?
- amex? says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 19:10
  
  Post Offices nearly all take Visa & MasterCard, for sure.
  - Paul says:
    
    14 Apr14 April 16:17
    
    I know they do for services but for bill payments?
James67 says:

13 Apr13 April 13:26

OT: just received an email from Etihad for 96h flash sale ending 16th. Up to 30% off in both Y and J with double miles in Y and triple miles in J. Travel through February 2016. It states you need to register but I cannot find any link. It might be a good option for those looking to book something for Xmas and new year, and for those just reciving the cc it will help meet target spend and trigger the silver status.
- Rob says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 15:22
  
  http://www.etihad.com/en-gb/promotions/spring-sale/
  - James67 says:
    
    13 Apr13 April 17:08
    
    Thanks Rob, that’s the booking page but the way I read it we need to register for double/triple miles. It is the page to do that I cannot find.
    - Rob says:
      
      13 Apr13 April 17:38
      
      Eh?! Look again ….
      - James67 says:
        
        13 Apr13 April 18:02
        
        ‘What’s more, as a valued Etihad Guest member, you will also earn triple miles in Business and double miles in Economy Class for travel to all destinations when you register your details for this amazing offer.’
      - James67 says:
        
        13 Apr13 April 18:14
        
        Apologies Rob, I see it now. Many thanks. If my etihad credit card has arrived by time I get home tomorrow I will likely take advantage of this. With the triple miles giving me over 40k plus around 27k for the card and a few thousand from holidaycheck I should be getting 1.5 round trips to Asia in J for about £1800 without need for any positioming flights. Hopefully the silver status will somehow get accelerated to hold as John has been reporting on loyaltylobby and I might be tempted to divert more business their way as many of the best frequent flyer incentives seem to be coming from Etihad at the moment.
BEV says:

13 Apr13 April 13:46

JUST read costco no longer accepting amex in 2016 due to striking A deal with visa
- BlueHorizonUK says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 14:21
  
  Thats Costco US and not UK.
avioscollector says:

13 Apr13 April 14:38

Stamps are legal tender. Buy them at Costco and then take them to the post office to exchange to cash. Been doing this for years.

Now the PO takes Amex it makes it even easier.
- nick says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 15:04
  
  Are you saying you can take a 2nd class stamp into any post office, and ask for 54p in cash?
  and not buy any further services at the time?
- Will says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 16:19
  
  I hope this is a wind up
- TimS says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 16:22
  
  http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2012/04/10/can-you-buy-stamps-now-then-sell-them-for-30-profit/
  - avioscollector says:
    
    14 Apr14 April 14:43
    
    Perhaps you should try this rather than post an out of date link. On second thoughts, maybe it is better that this be treated as a joke.
    
    Ha ha. fooled you. Nothing to see here.
    - TimS says:
      
      14 Apr14 April 14:53
      
      The link may be old but it isn’t out of date.
      
      You may have found a PO branch that is willing to “buy back” stamps but it is not PO policy to do so.
      
      Incidentally, you need to brush up on the meaning of “legal tender”. Stamps are not, and never have been, legal tender.
amex? says:

13 Apr13 April 14:39

Popped out to a Co-Op & paid in £200 on C Tax via Amex & Paypoint. Too easy. Certainly looks credit card commission-free (ie from the Council). Just thought it was worth checking no cash advance fee from Amex either, then might as well pay off the year & maybe a bit on top!
- amex? says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 14:50
  
  Already showing as £200 online @ Amex with no cash advance fees.
  
  Provided I get 400 MR points (Gold Year 1), looks as if you guys already found a charmed route earlier. Must pay more attention.
  
  Who needs the Post Office?!
  
  Wd be a great way to burn through required spend on a new card.
  - amex? says:
    
    13 Apr13 April 15:56
    
    FYI the annotation is COOP [LOCATION] – so should go through as supermarket spend.
  - George says:
    
    13 Apr13 April 16:39
    
    Did you have to use a pay card or does your bill actually have a barcode?
    - amex? says:
      
      13 Apr13 April 16:46
      
      barcode on mine
    - Liz says:
      
      13 Apr13 April 17:37
      
      I pay mine by direct debit so my bill doesn’t have a bar code so would need to request a payment card from the council I presume and cancel the direct debit.
      - amex? says:
        
        13 Apr13 April 17:53
        
        Liz -the barcode is on the annual Council Tax Bill, mine is dated 11/3, I think all councils have to issue them once a year to coincide with the new financial year. FWIW we pay by DD as well but I know from experience (3Vs) that if I prepay, the council will automatically NOT collect the DD.
      - Liz says:
        
        13 Apr13 April 22:11
        
        My bill dated March 2015 definitely doesn’t have a barcode on it but my mother-in-law’s does as she pays manually with the paycard. Will give my council a call tomorrow and ask for a payment card and give it a try!
      - mark2 says:
        
        19 Apr19 April 22:14
        
        It does vary between councils whether they will not automatically not collect the direct debit if already paid.