Great Tips to Cut Postage Costs Hunt

lynedoch

Re leaflet!
I have met only 1 person in my area of Swansea who has laid eyes on this confusing rip-off chart.

I'm disabled and unable to get to a post office - the local one closed - and when I write to my parents I'll have to cut down on what I say as it'll be weighed and if I put the incorrect amount on they'll be penalised.

Someone recently pointed out that we've been made insecure and will probably put 2 stamps on, 'just in case'.
Will shops who sell cards display the size guide ..

They all lied, size DOES matter.

student100

LongDongDave wrote:

It's £3 + minimum, can't remember from the last time i checked. No good if you are posting loads of items as you have to type in the address for all of them.

I get the impression there is only a minimum fee for debit card purchases (£3.50), credit card purchases can be any amount. I don't know for sure though, still not tried it yet.


The reason you need to type in the addresses is because the 2D barcode produced by the system contains address data so the sorting machines can sort the mail quicker.

If you have lots of items I think they are encouraging you to subscribe to SmartStamp where you can do mail merges etc. from mailing lists.

pfcbpfcb

Midi wrote:

It will be interesting to see how the 5mm thick limit is interpreted. If you fold 10 or so A4 sheets in half they will push out the envelope to more than 5mm where they are folded. You can squeeze it back below 5mm of course but it springs out again when released.

I've been informed by my work that if you ensure that the fold is at the bottom of the envelope it will be cheaper as they scan it at the top where the stamp is!

klondyke

I went into post office today, to get proof of posting and 1p stamp to add to 2 1st class to make 65p.

Girl slid item through template and said it was only 44p, wondering why I had so far put 64p of stamps on. I began to think I had been stupid, when she remembered to weigh the item. Lo, I was right to buy a 1p stamp.

But I wonder - if PO gets it wrong, and customer sends underpaid item in good faith, presumably there would be a penalty at the other end and no easy way of proving it wasn't sender's fault.

This was an ebay sale item (yippee), but I dread to think of feedback if I had trusted PO girl!

steve_cov

I was reading this new guidance at work yesterday, and the fact is that the post office has replaced the dozen or so different weight bands for letters with 61 different prices for different sizes, different this and different that.

Yes, there are now 61 different prices for sending a letter, and that's before you consider parcels and packages!

Nobody now has the faintest idea how much anything costs to post, and the guff about 85% of mail costing the same is a red herring. When you add in the value of your time (and the cost of the ruler and scales everyone needs), the cost is far, far higher.

When the weight limit was 60g, everyone knew that it was about the weight of a Mars bar. What is the comparison now? And is it the same for a letter and a large letter? This has been so pathetically ill-thought out that it deserves to fail, so it's a good job that it probably will. I give it six months before it's changed again.

steve_cov

Oh, and another thing: the post office made a virtue for years of selling stamps in books marked "6 x 1st class" rather than in price. That meant you could still send things with them, even if the rate went up.

When the stamps were bought, they were valid. Are they suddenly to be subject to a penalty fee if you use them for the wrong colour of letter or whatever the final criterion is?

MaureenHB

I tend to post books quite a lot as I am a member of BookCrossing..
http://www.bookcrossing.com/home so I will be using plain envelopes now or brown paper, as if I use Jiffy padded bags it puts the price up from 75p to £1.39.
book crossing name MaureenHB

snax

Just a comment or 2 about Posties - so not strictly on topic.
The vast majority of Postal workers in this country are, I'm sure, reliable, honest and consencious people - however there are always bad apples in any 'barrel'.
Large inner cities with high density population and heavy postal delivery obligations are more prone to rely on temporary and casual staff, some of whom are supplied by agencies, and are mostly unvetted as far as criminal disclosure is concerned.
This, it would appear, is where a large percentage of the RM delivery 'problems' are - as far as " item lost in the post" goes.
I knew a postie who was fired for "willful delay" ... he couldn't be bothered to do a 2nd delivery, he just took the mail home and sneaked it back in the next day and sorted it with the new delivery mail for that day - got caught after his bosses set a delivery trap and was dismissed - ... he did describe some of the antics and tricks that go on though.
There are always a minority of opportunistic sorts who will exploit a situation or looked for an 'edge'.

1. Birthday cards with £10 in it from Auntie/Grannie/Big Sis/etc ... it's easy to tell a birthday card after delivering a few and sme will try to guess if it contains cash ..hold envelope by 1 corner between 2 fingers [make sure open end of card inside of envelope is pointing away from you] then 'flick' the envelope as if you were throwing a frisbee - without letting go of the envelope - if you here a "tap" noise from the envelope then there is a fair chance that its a ££ note - worth the risk to an unscrupulous sort .. how many of you has this happened to ... or know someone it has happened to? empty birthday card or no card at all? Try it yourself and see.[Childs birthday cards are usually sold with a bright coloured envelope - by all means use this but put it inside a brown one for posting.

2.Britannia music club ... used to try and get you to take their "special selection" by sending it out whether you asked for it or not - and if you didn't return it pronto you were charged for it... Loads used to go "missing" as posties know Brittania would chase the punter for payment regardless of any protest that it wasn't delivered - Britannia just assume that you've got it and as you have not returned it, then you must want to keep it .. CD's, Video's and now DVD's I suppose. Trick here I suppose would be not to get greedy and take to many as it would soon show up as too many were going missing in a certain area.

3. Ever noticed the edges of envelopes are sometimes 'lifted' or bent back, as if someone has tried to see what is inside - particularly if it's not regular, identifiable mail like Utility bills/brown envelope stuff etc. ... some times mail in the posties bag will rub together as it is humped around on a delivery [the backs of envelopes are not completely sealed, with small gaps at the edges, which other envelopes can catch and tear slightly - that's why posties use rubber bands to secure mail together to prevent this]... or ... sometimes interesting envelopes are 'damaged' to try and reveal a clue to it's contents ... what is the shifty looking postie doing in the stairwell of a block of flats, squatting down over his bag having a rummage through it picking out the next bundle? - or is there summit else going on?

There are fiddles with recorded delivery and Special delivery mail as well, so try and be aware that while 99% of staff are fair and honest - there is always somebody looking for a chance.

Use tiny bits of tape to secure the corners of notes to the inside of cards .. or wrap in a sheet of kitchen wipe and tape that to the inside of the card - anything that prevents movement.I personally would never send cash by Recorded or Special delivery ... you'd be as well writing "£20 note inside - please steal" on the envelope - so obvious.

CD's and DVD's are by the RM own admission the items most often claimed for as non delivered by senders/sellers ... don't see that as a situ which will change anytime soon - paticularly as the new PIP perameters will only encourage senders to reduce packaging to stay within the limits of cheaper price bands and consequently make the contents even easier to recognise and therefore tempt a less than honest delivery person into 'diverting' the package.
Having said that I have sold over 200 CD's/DVD's/PS2 games in the last 3 months and just had my 2nd one go 'missing' - so around 1% loss rate - not to shabby [I do think this would be higher though if I was posting propotionately more to large cities more than I am ... both packages have gone missing in inner London].
Anyway just my thoughts prompted by the comments earlier from the poster who was/is a postie for 30 yrs. Most mail is safe in this country, try to make it safer by sealing all envelopes properly and by not being to obvious about what your mailings contain.

Aspal

Pay bills etc by direct debit or in person at the bank instead of posting lots of cheques - sounds obvious but I've been trying to persuade my boss for months and he just won't listen!!!!

misterthrifty

steve_cov wrote:

Oh, and another thing: the post office made a virtue for years of selling stamps in books marked "6 x 1st class" rather than in price. That meant you could still send things with them, even if the rate went up.

When the stamps were bought, they were valid. Are they suddenly to be subject to a penalty fee if you use them for the wrong colour of letter or whatever the final criterion is?

I think the 1st and 2nd class stamps will continue but the PO seem keen to reduce the usage of traditional stamps and use more labels issued online or in the post office. Their problem is that stamps they sold in 1970 are still valid for usage and there are ££M out there. Of course joining the € would give them a clean sheet.

Mr T