Underpaid Postage

Titch88

So I received what I assume was a birthday card this morning and it has a yellow sticker on it saying the postage was underpaid and the fee to pay was £1.10.

I've not heard of this before so I looked it up on the net.

Supposedly you're supposed to get a card with the sticker on it asking you to retrieve the item from the post office and to pay there...But I've already got the item!

I live in the same house as my boyfriend and I know he's put a notice on the door asking for any post that doesn't fit through the main letter box (as it's broken) to be put through the basement door letterbox instead, in case it's a small gift he's bought.

Obviously the card wouldn't have fitted through either of them because it's quite large so the postman actually slipped it UNDER the front door instead as it was wedged there when I first saw it.

Was the postman just being nice because it was my birthday?

Rikki

Yes.
My friend has just made a trip to the main sorting office to collect a Birthday card at the cost of £1.10.

You normally get a standard card saying you have a letter to collect and a charge to pay. As you rightly found out. Your postman has delivered it anyway. Nice postman.

ginvzt

Could it be another birthday card from someone else?

darkwarrior

You know, this happened to me to. Cant be a scam because I paid at the post office but somethings going on if everyone is being sent birthday cards and yet the postage isn't enough, and apparently needs more than the cost of the postage and the card to compensate.

Mine had a strange stamp on it though, did this happen to anyone else? Maybe its some dodgy stamp.

Pollycat

darkwarrior wrote: »

You know, this happened to me to. Cant be a scam because I paid at the post office but somethings going on if everyone is being sent birthday cards and yet the postage isn't enough, and apparently needs more than the cost of the postage and the card to compensate.

Mine had a strange stamp on it though, did this happen to anyone else? Maybe its some dodgy stamp.

A while ago, Royal Mail introduced a maximum size for cards/letters that can be posted at the usual 1st/2nd class postage rates.

Anything bigger must have more postage on.
The OP did say that the card was quite large so probably needed more postage than the basic 1st/2nd class rate.

soolin

£1.10 is a fairly standard charge.

It means the card was originally sent with a 1st class stamp on it (41p) but actually was too large for a standard letter and needed a large letter stamp. A 2nd class large letter stamp is 51p, the difference being 10p plus the £1 handling fee .

devildog

I have a relative who regularly sent me stuff with the incorrect postage one, meaning I had to colllect it and pay. I decided enough was enough and refused to collect anymore so post office sent it back to sender!! They don't do it anymore

casper_g

There are quite a lot of greetings cards out there that are too large for standard letter postage rates -- usually it's because there's a badge or some embellishment stuck on that makes them too thick. All the cards I've bought recently had a little symbol on the back to say whether they're standard or "large letter" these days.

Irish-John_2

What happens if someone sends a large thick letter , has to squeeze it into the post box, with no return address on it and a 1st class stamp??

kazzah60

Irish-John wrote: »

What happens if someone sends a large thick letter , has to squeeze it into the post box, with no return address on it and a 1st class stamp??

sorry- not sure what you are asking - if the item has been delivered to you without RM asking for the underpaid postage - (sometimes at very busy periods items like this slip through the RM net) and you can get away with not paying the surcharge and fee

If RM do pick up on underpaid postage you are left a card to either put stamps to the value of the underpaid postage on and post back to RM and the item will be delivered, or you can opt to collect the item from a local sorting office and pay the underpaid postage and the £1 surcharge there and collect your item - if the item has been delivered- then there is nothing you need to do:rotfl:

4743hudsonj

Irish-John wrote: »

What happens if someone sends a large thick letter , has to squeeze it into the post box, with no return address on it and a 1st class stamp??

Then it sits in the ether that is RM sorting offices.