Warning post a letter less than 5mm thick with a normal stamp then the recipient may

SeethingSaver

If you post a letter that you have measured is less than :
Length: 240mm max, Width: 165mm max, Thickness: 5mm max, Weight: 100g max
(these are the dimensions the post office state are for a regular stamp postage rate)
then if you do actually use a regular 1st or 2nd class stamp the post office may not deliver this; with the person you were sending it to having a penalty postage to pay advice put through their letter box instead.

Their official reasoning for this being that, although their own website and information concerning what they themselves state is the maximum width of 5mm, if the item is pushed half-way through a 5mm slot but it fails to fall the rest of the way by gravity then it is considered by them as appropriate to be charged at the large letter rate. Despite the information available to the public clearly showing size parameters which state a maximum width of 5mm. So many items that are less than 5mm width will for various reasons fail this (information seemingly internally in-house only disclosed) test and the item will not be delivered incurring a penalty payment. You can post an item in good faith having measured everything before hand according to what the post office say, determine from that information it satisfies letter rate postage criteria but the post office will not deliver it then heavily penalise the recipient.

Is this not the most underhand disgraceful practise you have ever heard of?
Have people heard of this push halfway then fall on it's own qualification rule and if so what is their reaction to it?

molerat

A letter that has a maximum thickness of 5mm or less will fall through the slot, anything over will stick. Where is the problem ?

ellay864

I'm also struggling to see why a letter that doesn't go above the 5mm mark wouldn't fall through. If the envelope contents were thicker at the centre or one end then it would fall foul of the rules anyway as all points of the item must fall within those limits.
The only way I can see the gravity thing coming in is if you had a very light envelope with eg a couple of credit cards at one end, and that end was pushed in last.
Could always cover your back by geting PO to weigh it and give you a cert of posting then you know at least they were the ones who determined and accepted the size/weight

Horseunderwater

Have heard of it happening with the LL sized items, but I have never had a problem with it myself. Obviously the OP is going to the post office to send their letters out. Why not buy some stamps and just put it in a post box if they are sure they are right? Besides which the post office actually have card measuring devices that can be obtained from the website. We got 3 when it was introduced. And although not as accurate as the plastic ones, they are deemed good enough by PO.

Searcher

SeethingSaver wrote: »

So many items that are less than 5mm width will for various reasons fail this (information seemingly internally in-house only disclosed) test

I thought it was fairly common knowledge that the envelope had to pass freely through the template under its own weight.
The only reason an item will fail the test is if it is thicker than 5mm at some point, there's nothing underhand about it at all.

George_Michael

If you push something half way through the slot and it then fails to fall due to gravity acting on it, there are only 3 possibilities.

1/ One or more of the dimensions of the envelope are above the permitted sizes which is causing it to stick.

2/ The person putting it through the slot forgot to let go.

3/ The envelope has been transported to an alternative universe, one where gravity doesn't behave the same as it does in our one.

mildred1978

George_Michael wrote: »

If you push something half way through the slot and it then fails to fall due to gravity acting on it, there are only 3 possibilities.

1/ One or more of the dimensions of the envelope are above the permitted sizes which is causing it to stick.

2/ The person putting it through the slot forgot to let go.

3/ The envelope has been transported to an alternative universe, one where gravity doesn't behave the same as it does in our one.

Actually, if one or more dimension is too short for the depth of the item it won't fall without being pushed. An A7 envelope less than 5mm thick will need to be pushed right through the letter box before it will fall (for example).

Azari

As usual, all the smartarses pile in to demonstrate their ignorance.

It's actually very easy for a letter that is a little less than 5mm thick to fail to fall of its own accord when pushed half way through.

As someone mentioned earlier, if it is light but unbalanced it will tip downwards and not have enough weight to overcome the friction between the top of the trailing part of the envelope and the slot.

If you see a PO counters person check, they never let go of the letter so it appears to pass through in a perfectly satisfactory manner.

shaun_from_Africa

As someone mentioned earlier, if it is light but unbalanced it will tip downwards and not have enough weight to overcome the friction between the top of the trailing part of the envelope and the slot

.

In which case probably 99% of standard sized letters put through the slot would fail to drop, and this obviously isn't the case.
I have one of the LL guages that were given away by some Post Offices, and even a standard 11cm X 22cm envelope pushed halfway through will often stick due to the tipping action causing the letter to catch on the top of the slot.
It then needs to be pushed well past halfway before it will drop of its own accord.

I have sent many dozen packages that are close to the 5mm limit (thinish reference manuals), and I have never once been informed by any of my customers that they have had anything extra to pay due to the package being classed as a large letter.

starrystarry

SeethingSaver wrote: »

Is this not the most underhand disgraceful practise you have ever heard of?

Nope, not by a long shot.

mynameistallulah

mildred1978 wrote: »

Actually, if one or more dimension is too short for the depth of the item it won't fall without being pushed. An A7 envelope less than 5mm thick will need to be pushed right through the letter box before it will fall (for example).

I agree, but that is due to the thickness of the letterbox - shouldn't have the same problem with the RM measuring thingy.