Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The Post Office is now accepting American Express

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

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.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

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

Comments (98)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question 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…

  • Will says:
    13 Apr13 April 09:39

    please let us know how you get on

  • 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

      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?

  • 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

  • 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.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!