Stores reported harmful changes by PayPoint to their services last week, including the withdrawal of Yodel and InPost services and new charges on ‘free-to-use’ ATM machines.

Parcel service losses for PayPoint Collect Plus stores

Letters sent to some of PayPoint’s Collect Plus stores last week, seen by Better Retailing, said that “Yodel over-the-counter (OTC) services will be removed from your store from 6 June”, followed by the removal of all other Yodel parcel services by 19 June.

Meanwhile, other stores, such as Qasim Din’s 8 Till Late in Cardiff, received letters dated 2 June telling them they would lose InPost OTC parcel services on 10 June, with all other InPost services to be lost from 15 June.

“We understand this may come as disappoint­ing news,” the letters stated.

Din told Better Retailing: “It’s a big­ger hit for us than the loss of Yodel. InPost was good for us, it brought in good numbers of customers and we always gave them good service.”

The changes are likely related to InPost’s ongo­ing acquisition of Yodel, and its plans to “redesign” its retail network with PayPoint. All parties have refused to say how many stores are losing or gain­ing services as a result.

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Charges on ‘free’ ATMs

Several stores also re­ported cash withdrawal charges being introduced on their PayPoint ATMs recently, despite the equipment being clearly branded, stating ‘free cash withdrawals here’.

One store affected told Better Retailing the change had harmed their reputa­tion among customers. Another claimed that Pay­Point scrapped a planned 80p-per-withdrawal charge after the store gave notice to exit their ATM agreement.

PayPoint said surcharg­es are “introduced due to the ATM in operation being commercially unvi­able, which we review on a case-by-case basis”. It added: “We work with any retailer partner to find the best cash-withdrawal service for their specific circumstances.”

Higher bond payments

Shop owners also report­ed PayPoint refusing to up their daily transaction limits to £500 unless they agree to a £2,500 security bond, a level £1,000 above that paid by many sites.

Stores had requested the increase in response to shopper demand, espe­cially from users of online banks such as Monzo.

PayPoint defended the higher bonds, stating: “A security deposit is one of the measures that PayPoint uses to enable a retailer partner to keep a terminal in store when the daily takings exceed a recommended credit limit or if there has been an instance of non-compli­ance. We have a number of options; we encourage any retailer partner with questions to contact us.”

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