RM Charges can be so annoying

soolin

macfly wrote: »

It is a bit more hit and miss with parcels in soft wrapping. With over 50 million pieces of post a day mistakes are often made.
I have a mate who regularly drives home from the pub. It's less than a mile. Well over the limit. Never had an accident, nor has he been pulled up after hundreds of journeys. But it's not an example to follow.

Before pricing in proportion one of my main products were dance clothes- things like ballet tights and belly dance scarves (easy things to store and pack) however I had to stop that as PIP made me far too expensive.

The scarves in particular were a nightmare, weighed virtually nothing and would pack almost flat, but put them in a warm room or even in a sack to go to Post office and either the package was expand, or else all the material would fall to one end. So a slim packet that looked like a large letter would often as not end up having to go as a packet. As I couldn't risk getting underpaid complaints I stopped that line.

The tights were the same, half the packets I bought would go through the slot fairly easily, but sometimes the hook on the outer card was misaligned and they would stick in slot- so again I had to lose that line.

Even though I now stamp my items at home I never risk putting something through as a LL when it needs more than a gentle push to go through the gauge.

lovinituk

soolin wrote: »

I've had to pay excess on 4 items in the past year that have been paid as large letters but come with an excess that equates to upgrading them to packets.

One was a newsletter from a charity that was actually just too thick when I tried it through my gauge. 3 were ebay items and two of those sellers were surprised as they explained they would just go through the slot if I sort of smoothed it all down and pulled really hard (both similar items that usually arrive as a packet) . Obviously I got my money back from all 3 sellers so I wasn't out of pocket but they were.

The items I am sending regularly cannot change shape as such. They do not free fall through the slot using gravity alone. They fit through the slot easily but need a slight push/pull to get them through (there is no silly forcing required). These were never accepted as large letter when I used to post via post offices but there is no problem with them regularly going through the system. I use PPI and if a package was ever underpaid, they would charge my account rather than charge the recipient - I have so far not be charged for any underpaid items since I started using PPI in April.

lovinituk

Whoops! Looks like I need to be upping my postage charges!!

The best way to check the thickness is to shake any loose inserts to the bottom of the mail item, then hold the size guide horizontally and check the item drops through under its own weight. If you need to push the item through, it is too thick and needs to be priced at the next size category.

Source - http://www.royalmail.com/discounts-payment/franking/faqs-mail-presentation-irregularities-letters

Thought I'd better post that before my previous posts end up getting anyone into trouble

custardy

lovinituk wrote: »

Whoops! Looks like I need to be upping my postage charges!!



Source - http://www.royalmail.com/discounts-payment/franking/faqs-mail-presentation-irregularities-letters

Thought I'd better post that before my previous posts end up getting anyone into trouble

in the grand scheme. RM are pretty lax on revenue protection.
they could raise millions if they got their act together on franking,underpaid items,unofficial redirections,expired PO boxes etc

RFW

custardy wrote: »

in the grand scheme. RM are pretty lax on revenue protection.
they could raise millions if they got their act together on franking,underpaid items,unofficial redirections,expired PO boxes etc

I'd imagine it would cost as much to have staff to check all these things as they would gain back.
I think I spent 20 minutes in a Post Office yesterday with a queue of people behind me as I was told that something was a packet instead of a large letter (had a dozen the same that went through as LL!), a piece of tape had fallen off pushing it a centimetre over, tape it back down and it was a large letter again. Not sure that the faffing about for an extra 80p was worth the annoyed customers behind but it's all revenue;)