Vicarage Road Post Office

This is a pretty standard post office; there is always a queue and the staff look bored to tears. However, it is not as busy as the post office on the main high street in Kings Heath and so if I am in the area then I will pop in here if I need to. They stock all of the usual bits and bobs, packaging, cellotape and such. It is also fairly neat and tidy inside, which is something my eyes take note of whilst queuing for what seems like forever! When I finally reach the counter, I have noticed that the staff are usually quite friendly and attentive. They obviously have regular customers there as well, as some of the customers are on first name terms with the staff, which adds a lovely local touch to the business. Overall, it is a good little post office.

Vicarage Road Post Office is part of a wee small community of shops and amenities stretching out along an arterial rd at the head of Kings Heath High Street.
Post Offices have seen something of a shake up recently, with two I visited having recieved a major overhaul and refit leaving me slightly taken aback by the speed of service and overall efficiency with which orders were processed.
Clean lines and a mechanized service however are not features that one might always associate with the experience of standing huddled in a Post Office amongst aisles of stationary and parcel string.
But alongside the rapid relay of customers found within the larger and more modern Post Office, is the familiar shuffle of your local contingent at the smaller family run hybrids where the dual services of post and newsagent blur into a busy mix of community relations.
Vicarage Road Post Office falls into the second of these categories, not to say that their service is slow only more akin to a friendly face, perhaps even an exchange of gossip over the counter.

This is the alternative post office to the one on the main high street in Kings Heath, which is always, always busy. That said, there’s no promising that this little alternative isn’t going to have long queues either — as it had the other day when I went in the renew my car tax.
To be fair — queuing is all part and parcel of going to a post office, if you’ll excuse the pun… So it seems unfair to levy that against a post office. However, it is a bit depressing when your queuing has been in vain — as it was with me in this instance. I was clearly far too keen to pay my car tax (?!!) and was advised to just go away and come back in a few days, which would save me having to pay an extra month. Of course, I appreciated the help of the assistant who clearly saved me money. It’s just a bit disheartening to be queuing for 15 mins only to be told to go away.
Of course, it’s not the fault of the post office staff — who are obviously well-​informed and I appreciated their money-​saving advice. It’s the system. It’s always the system…
Other than that, this is a generic, functional post office. It’s useful as an alternative to the super-​busy Kings Heath high street branch.