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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.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – June 2021 update

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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the other top current deals:

British Airways American Express card

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BA Premium Plus American Express card BAPP

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Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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American Express Platinum card Amex

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Virgin Rewards Plus credit card

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Earning miles and points from small business cards

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Amex American Express Business Gold card

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Amex Platinum Business American Express

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British Airways Accelerating Business American Express card

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Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

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Category

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Lloyds Avios Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (99)

  • amex? says:
    15 Apr15 April 21:01

    I guess there are a few of us asking ourselves some obvious questions.

    1. Just because I can get an easy (@2-4-£1) +/-4000 MR points on my CT bill, is that good enough? I used to get far more with 3Vs.

    2. Is http://pay.com/ around the corner? My CT was one of the easiest ways to get a great effective discount last time round. Now I’m no longer a cat, I’m a dog & I think big.

    3. What about other tricky bills such as SKY? Most of the utilities will take PayPoint/ Amex, but there are a few tricky ones. Worth hanging on for http://pay.com/ ? Better than an easy 1-4-£1 on Visa?

    4. And in the meantime, if I were prepared for the pain in the butt nature of £3.95 for the £50 Visa cards, is that better in Avios terms than going lazy (as per the PayPoint route)?

    • Polly says:
      16 Apr16 April 10:16

      Actually we are all trying different ways of continuing to maximise our avios earnings until pay.com is up and running. So as we can all help each other greatly on this site, let’s just live with it until a better earning route appears. Let’s hope soon! So any route is better than none. Just don’t allow a direct debit to go out. Most bills can be paid with visa or MasterCard, but a lot will take amex. Those paid for Visa cards are quite useful for those not taking amex, and saves a car trip to a co op if ness. I am just paying all our bills now monthly until we see what happens. Your EDF plan is useful too, we have be fitted from that also. Very easy to load up with pre pay there. Basically avios for nothing.

      Also we have the fab ex EU Qatar sale to keep us booking in the meantime. Def better than BA at the moment, so worth a look.

  • amex? says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:54

    There’s also this route to a few more Avios/MRs on your energy bill, eg from EDF:

    ‘My energy account balance is in credit. Can I get a refund?

    If you think you’ve paid too much

    If you think you’ve made an overpayment, or that we’re charging you too much, please get in touch as soon as possible so we can refund any money we may owe you. Claim your credit and find out more here.

    To see if you’ve made an overpayment, check your most recent bill. If the reading we have given is more than the reading on your meter you could be owed a refund. Let us know as soon as possible by: [ETC]’

    They can’t refund via PayPoint, can they? So you’d keep the Amex points and just ask for the credit to a debit card.

  • amex? says:
    17 Apr17 April 20:49

    I did actually manage to buy 4 x £50 Visas @ T for £3.95 each fee and stick it all into SKY.

    Surprisingly easy, first time I did it as it happens. Faster than 3Vs. I averaged 1 minute each, including activating and paying into SKY ac. Setting up the ac must have taken a further couple of mins.

    Did the math & I made it that I was buying Avios for 0.85p each, given T points & Amex MRs, not too bad but not really worth the candle either.

    • amex? says:
      17 Apr17 April 20:52

      Still, that does give me a BA flight to Europe 2 for £63.75 plus RFS fee.

      Luggage/ snack/ beer/ Heathrow.

      Superior service lol

      • amex? says:
        17 Apr17 April 21:01

        So let’s do the comp:

        £200 into SKY via £3.95 Visas = 1840 Avios, costing 0.85p each. Flight is nearer.

        vs

        £200 into CT via Amex/ PayPoint = 400 Avios, costing 0. You’ll have to wait for that flight.

      • amex? says:
        19 Apr19 April 18:53

        We could try and put a value on the extras, not that I ever pay for them on EJ or RA.

        Luggage = say £20
        Snack = £3
        Beer x 3 = £12
        Heathrow – convenience = 0, nice though it is.

        So maybe we could discount that BA flight by £35, not that I’d pay the cheapo [email protected] for those things, anyway.

  • amex? says:
    19 Apr19 April 18:44

    Heh heh! In a way I got my sadly missed mojo back.

    About 5000 MR points in a few days just by paying my council tax, SKY and water bills.

    Better to get points instead of nothing, I reckon.

    Paypoint + Amex is the way to go.

    • mark2 says:
      19 Apr19 April 22:23

      I found a couple of old 3V cards the other day and was dismayed to find that I could not use them to pay my Council Tax. On investigation I found that it was pay.com who blocked them. Am email elicited the information that ‘government financial transactions’ were not allowed.

      • Fenny says:
        19 Apr19 April 23:30

        I paid several 3V cards into my CT account last April/May. Later in the year, they were blocked and the council said it wasn’t a change on their side.

  • amex? says:
    22 Apr22 April 16:50

    Paid my TalkTalk bill today – this is fortunately one bill you can pay with Amex directly & no fee.

    You get a 10% discount if you pay within 24hrs of getting the emailed bill.

    Crazy.

    So even though the DD is otherwise due in a few days, you can save 10% just by watching out for the email and paying those few days early.

    If you’re later than 24hrs, you lost your opportunity.

    Not sure what the point of this is, as the cashflow advantage to TT is minimal and indeed they probably lost significantly more in 10% discount & Amex charges than waiting for my DD (ie BACS payment).

    They are probably trying to find a way to say they can be cheaper than (say) BT.

    All crazy good fun once a month and since they also give me unlimited free international calls, can’t say I’m complaining too much about this 24hrs-only 10% saving ‘window’ opportunity/ lottery!

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