experiences of new postal rates

soolin

lynzpower wrote:

Soo

I share your pain.

What I dont get is if it goes through the large letter slot on thier plastic board, can it ever be a package?

It all seems open to interpretation. Yesterday package fitted through with a bit of a push and was a letter, today it fitted through with a bit of a push but apparently it did not fit through 'easily' so it was a package. Same item same packaging..well, I'm confused.

How can one judge the definition of what fits through 'easily' and what requires a push and is therefore a package?

Soo

mah_jong

soolin, can I suggest you charge packet rate for that item and if one goes through as a large letter than you have gained a bit!!

It is difficult to get it right...... one packet yesterday, could go through the large lettter packet one way (with a bit of manipultion getting it out )but would not even enter it the other other end!

I personally would say' easily', is where no force/cohersion etc is required, that the item is free to move back and forth.

mah

MimiJane

It cost me £2.12 yesterday to send a boxed pair of fairly sturdy shoes as a "packet" (second-class). Quite a bit cheaper I think than the last pair of shoes I despatched.

essexhoney

well i think i can say thats me and ebay done with - just been down to the post office and my best seller has gone from being £8.60 to £15.40!!!!!!! Worked out the cheapest way to send it was parcelforce 48hr! Had i have gone through royal mail then it would have been cheapest to send it special delivery at £18.50!

On the up side though some of the smaller items i had there was no way they would have gone as a large letter however he literally shoved one side of it in and got it through and a centimetre and sent it as a large letter rather than a packet there was no way it would have gone the whole way through and he really had to tug at it to get it back out.

It does appear to differ from area to area and post office to post office for some reason.

soolin

essexhoney, based on the experiences on here I am considering taking my next shipment to a different Post office to see what they class it as. I have to commit today to buying new stock, and that depends on whether I can send the item as a small packet or a large letter, it is a low end item and the p and p makes a lot of difference and I do have some competition and their post and packing is low enough that they are considering the item a large letter as they would make a loss otherwise as I did yesterday when the Post Office refused it and charged it as a package.

Soo

essexhoney

I definatly would take it to a different post office soo, there is no way the one that he tried to fit through would have gone through easily at all he struggled to push it in a centimetre and then really had to pull it out! Im lucky it was well wrapped lol
I was talking to them in there and they said that all post offices if they have been trained correctly should be doing it the same way but from the views of people on here the majority obviously havent been, he did say the only advice that he can give me is to try and keep the packaging to a bare minimum ie rather than using a jiffy bag try bubble wrap and brown paper etc.
Though he did suggest that for bigger items it would definatly be worth looking into using a courier service as the majority of them will work out cheaper than with royal mail.

Amazombie

essexhoney wrote:

well i think i can say thats me and ebay done with - just been down to the post office and my best seller has gone from being £8.60 to £15.40!!!!!!! Worked out the cheapest way to send it was parcelforce 48hr! Had i have gone through royal mail then it would have been cheapest to send it special delivery at £18.50!.

I didnt realise you were allowed to sell elephants on ebay? :rotfl:

How heavy is your item then? Surely must be thicker than 25mm and heavy for that sort of charge and all the larger item charges have dropped quite considerably in price.

essexhoney

according to the reciept it was 2.049kg and a rough guess as it was the last one i had left that i sent out today i would say it was approx 60mm thick.

Its extortionate the amount it has gone up!

Kaminari_2

essexhoney It is because it is over 2kg. Can you knock off the extra 49gms? Was it the packing?
Goodluck!

essexhoney

it was literally wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap and a single layer of brown paper! there is no way i could get it down to anything less