Post Office
The post office is an institution. It has evolved over the decades from simply a way of moving documents around, to a firm that is heavily involved with moving money around and sorting important official documentation, from driving licenses to passports.
A lot more of the services being offered by the post office currently are, what could be referred to as “retail”, or consumer driven. They include phone and telecommunication services from broad band to mobile phone top-ups.
On top of all this the post office offers a series of financial services. You can arrange travel insurance, sort out your national savings certificates and even arrange a Post Office Mortgage! Within the finances section there are a many features and service geared towards moving money about from country to country.
When ordering foreign currency you pay no commissions, and you can even have either foreign currency, or traveler's cheques delivered to your door (for free if you order more than £400 worth). Now that's service.
Part of the suite of features available for visitors to the foreign currency section of the royal mail site is their currency converter.
The “calculate your conversion” feature is different from most others because it does not allow you to specify which currency you wish to convert from – everything is converted from British pounds Sterling (GBP).
This is because the calculator is part of an active ordering system – the amount, or the exchange rate is not an average or estimate, it is the actual current rate that the post office will sell you foreign currency at.
Another difference is that you have a choice of whether you'd like to buy “foreign currency notes”, “American Express Traveller's Cheques” or if you'd like to put credit on a “Travel Money Card”
The fees are different for each and as such you get a slightly different amount of foreign currency depending on which of those 3 options you choose.
You select the currency that you wish to convert from using the drop-down list called “choose currency”.
There is a helpful link underneath called “what currency do I need” if you're not sure which currency is best for which country.
Finally enter the amount in the box entitled “enter the amount of currency” and click on the button marked calculate.
The website delivers the exchange rate and the total amount you will receive in foreign currency.
On the whole it is very practical and easy to use.
Rating (out of 5 stars):
- 4 Stars
Link: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/foreignexchange?type=buy&pageId=fex_main&catId=19300210