MSE News: Ofcom proposes further stamp price caps

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Ofcom has today proposed a limit on the price Royal Mail can charge for second class large letters and small parcels"

Read the full story:
Ofcom proposes further stamp price caps

Narc

Good idea but the limit being as high as 34% + inflation, seriously?

custardy

gotta fatten the cow for privitisation

Premier_2

...but the price of the seven as an average should exceed 34%, plus inflation, ...

Should that not read:

... but the price of the seven as an average should not exceed 34%, plus inflation, ...

oldvicar

What is the point of discussing an MSE News story, where the report has so few details and does not link to the underlying Ofcom report?

There seems to be a trend where MSE News gives fewer and fewer cherry-picked extracts on News items which in themselves do not add up to a story, and does not refer to the underlying report.

Premier_2

oldvicar wrote: »

What is the point of discussing an MSE News story, where the report has so few details and does not link to the underlying Ofcom report?

There seems to be a trend where MSE News gives fewer and fewer cherry-picked extracts on News items which in themselves do not add up to a story, and does not refer to the underlying report.

The official proposal document can be found on the Ofcom website

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/postal-service-letters-packets/summary/condoc.pdf



:eek: :eek: :eek:

I think I prefer the MSE explanation

wakeupalarm

Great, a maths degree needed to understand what they are proposing. :eek:

I don't even understand with all the different sizes and weights and the changes in weight classes how much each price point has gone up by.

It's far too complicated now compared to how it was about 5 years ago when it was just about weight.

Sometimes I think it would be far easier just to scrap second class and just have a single class, scrap standard parcels and just have tracked parcels, infact just open the whole thing up to competition and be done with. We know we are all going to get screwed eventually, just skip the stage where confusion reigns and get to the end point.

custardy

wakeupalarm wrote: »

Great, a maths degree needed to understand what they are proposing. :eek:

I don't even understand with all the different sizes and weights and the changes in weight classes how much each price point has gone up by.

It's far too complicated now compared to how it was about 5 years ago when it was just about weight.

Sometimes I think it would be far easier just to scrap second class and just have a single class, scrap standard parcels and just have tracked parcels, infact just open the whole thing up to competition and be done with. We know we are all going to get screwed eventually, just skip the stage where confusion reigns and get to the end point.

under EU regs you need a cheap basic postal service.scrap 2nd class and where is the cheap basic service?

wakeupalarm

I don't see the need for a 1st and 2nd class service, just combine it into a single service. It's not as if the classes of mail go via different routes. Scrap 1st class if you like and leave 2nd class.

I don't know where you get the info about EU regs, but even if you scraped second class that would leave 1st class, and according to Royal Mail the new 60p price for a First Class stamp will still be the fifth lowest in Europe.

It's all the confusing price points and changes that is the issue.

porto_bello

So a 2nd class stamp goes up from 36p to 50p, representing a 40% increase - something like 8 times the rate of inflation.

Ofcom will growl, shout and sabre rattle... but achieve absolutely nothing...

So what actually is the point of Ofcom? Wouldn't its funding be better spent on subsidising the price of a 2nd class stamp?

custardy

porto_bello wrote: »

So a 2nd class stamp goes up from 36p to 50p, representing a 40% increase - something like 8 times the rate of inflation.

Ofcom will growl, shout and sabre rattle... but achieve absolutely nothing...

So what actually is the point of Ofcom? Wouldn't its funding be better spent on subsidising the price of a 2nd class stamp?

last figures I saw
showed that if stamps had followed inflation,then they would be higher than the new prices.