Royal Mail !! What can I say??

malik999

custardy wrote: »

no need for insults is there? they dont deliver to the whole of the UK for the same price.
RM are required to by law,yet you want to compare prices
so how does this flat fee work then?
how are you calculating the costs if £5 per item is too high?
how would that work for downstream access mail?

It really isnt that difficult to grasp. I really don't think I can help you any further. It is not about me calculating the individual costs its the flat fee business model I am trying to put across to you. RM would have to come up with the prices. I can see why RM let you go.

custardy

malik999 wrote: »

It really isnt that difficult to grasp. I really don't think I can help you any further. It is not about me calculating the individual costs its the flat fee business model I am trying to put across to you. RM would have to come up with the prices. I can see why RM let you go.

nobody let me go,seems despite me giving you the option it is you who fails to grasp the concept
how does RM provide a flat fee service?
would that be by weight or size,or both
where are the limits?
why would a business sending out letters for under 36p want to pay a higher flat rate?
how does this work with the regulated downstream access prices?
I could go on. its easy to go all blue sky and throw out how things should be
not so easy when it comes to actually building the reality

AirlieBird

I'm sorry, I took a wrong turn somewhere. I was looking for the Savings & Investment forum. ;-)

pinkteapot

buddy143 wrote: »

many thanks for all the replies guys.
The thing I couldnt understand is that its only 2 A4 pages I sent in a small envelope. I did put 1st class stamp.
Did the price of the stamps/any regulations changed around 2nd wk of feb??

Ah, presumably in an A4 envelope? Had exactly the same documents been folded in half and put in an A5 envelope, your first class stamp would have been fine.

A couple of years ago they started distinguishing between Letter and Large Letter. So now the dimensions matter, not just the weight. A first class stamp covers up to 100g in weight but max size A5 and with a max thickness of 5mm. You need a Large Letter stamp for up to A4 and again, with a certain max. thickness. A Large Letter stamp costs the 10p more and also covers up to 100g. We had to put them on our wedding invites which were A6 but thick.

It was a stupid change that catches lots of people out. I had a couple of birthday cards this year that I had to go and pay £1.10 to retrieve because they were too large for Letter stamps. On the back of greetings cards it usually says Letter or Large Letter now to try and make people use the correct stamp.

As others have said, no-one you can complain to/claim off.

DavidHayton

jackieb wrote: »

I was just wondering what happens. As I said, i've never known it to go back to sender, as anyone i've known who has got a card through the door (including me) have always paid the fee. So I assume whoever they sent the documents to, didn't go pick them up and pay the extra.

I got one of these cards through the door. Demand for 32p plus £1 admin charge. Went to the delivery office (as you do). Turns out that the council had sent a batch of council tax bills without paying the postage. I am grateful to the man behind the counter who advised not to bother paying the fee. Two days later we got another council tax bill through the door, with a letter of apology, and advising us to bin the card demanding excess postage. What a laugh. I wonder how much that little episode cost?

chris_m

DavidHayton wrote: »

Turns out that the council had sent a batch of council tax bills without paying the postage.

Birmingham, perchance? ISTR seeing summat on the the news about that, or was that the one that just insufficiently stamped them?

nilrem_2

malik999 wrote: »

Slightly off topic but i think royal mail has completely over complicated their postage. They should have flat rates like in the US so everyone
automatically knows what something is going to cost. Weighing and measuring envelope sizes to calculate prices is ridiculous imo.

TBH I have to agree with you, it has become quite confusing, it's fine if you live near a post office and can take your letters there to have them weighed properly but some of us who live in the sticks do not have the luxury of a post office only a simple post box and one is always dubious of posting a larger envelope in case you are slightly over weight, sometimes I have to put 2 stamps on just to make certain that RM won't treat me like a criminal if my letter is a fraction of a gram overweight!

custardy

pinkteapot wrote: »

Ah, presumably in an A4 envelope? Had exactly the same documents been folded in half and put in an A5 envelope, your first class stamp would have been fine.

A couple of years ago they started distinguishing between Letter and Large Letter. So now the dimensions matter, not just the weight. A first class stamp covers up to 100g in weight but max size A5 and with a max thickness of 5mm. You need a Large Letter stamp for up to A4 and again, with a certain max. thickness. A Large Letter stamp costs the 10p more and also covers up to 100g. We had to put them on our wedding invites which were A6 but thick.

It was a stupid change that catches lots of people out. I had a couple of birthday cards this year that I had to go and pay £1.10 to retrieve because they were too large for Letter stamps. On the back of greetings cards it usually says Letter or Large Letter now to try and make people use the correct stamp.

As others have said, no-one you can complain to/claim off.

its over 5 years now,how long will it be before people wake up to this?
wait till zonal pricing comes in!

DavidHayton

chris_m wrote: »

Birmingham, perchance? ISTR seeing summat on the the news about that, or was that the one that just insufficiently stamped them?

Yes it was Birmingham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-12868688

chris_m

nilrem wrote: »

TBH I have to agree with you, it has become quite confusing, it's fine if you live near a post office and can take your letters there to have them weighed properly but some of us who live in the sticks do not have the luxury of a post office only a simple post box and one is always dubious of posting a larger envelope in case you are slightly over weight, sometimes I have to put 2 stamps on just to make certain that RM won't treat me like a criminal if my letter is a fraction of a gram overweight!

Have to admit, I haven't bought stamps for some years now - I weigh what little I send and buy the postage online, the website goes through the weight/size criteria and tells you the right postage. You pay, print off the label, stick it on the envelope and just have to get it in a postbox by the end of the next business day. It's really good for international posting, no need to look up prices, it works them all out for you.