Real-life MMD: Should I keep paying postage shortfalls?

stroppy_cow

My mother received a present from America once without the tax paid. It was a nasty nylon nightie which she hated but the giver would have been absolutely mortified if she'd known my ma had to pay to get it. But in the case of cards - do as most here say and make a joke out of it!

moneysavingnitwit

Why would I pay £1 to drive to the sorting office and collect my own mail? It was different when the postman could collect money but now they apparently aren't allowed to. If we had to put sender's address on all mail as they do in Europe and USA, we could let them be sent back and not risk offence. My elderly parents had a card from my brother that was 2mm wider than allowed, so looked like it was OK. They were flummoxed by the card from PO, and had to go to considerable trouble to collect said card - not funny when you're over 90. :mad:

LtotheG

A friend and I signed up for a fundraising walk for the local hospital charity last summer. A couple of weeks before the event both of us got a card through the door to say there was something to pick up where the sender had paid insufficient postage. I paid this thinking it could be something I was expecting from a relative, and found that the charity had sent through my information pack (walker's number, parking pass, general info etc) which was a large letter with only a 2nd class small letter stamp on. I just sent the charity a pleasant email pointing out the error (obviously I didn't ask for the difference back as they are a charity!) saying I was concerned that this may cause them issues as other participants may not receive the information seeing as both my friend and I had the insufficient postage problem. They were very apologetic and glad that the issue had been pointed out ahead of the event. I assume the mailings could have been sent out by volunteers who weren't aware of the new large letter post stamps, and as other people have said this may also be true of whoever is sending cards to you. I'd just let them no politely and light-heartedly as others have suggested.

moneysavingnitwit

MadMom wrote: »

I wouldn't waste my time or money. Just refuse delivery and let them return to sender. What you dont see, you dont miss :-)

Aah - but then you have to live with "what might it have been"!;)

pennypinchUK

Isn't there a very easy solution? Simply phone/write/email the people saying "Thanks very much for the card. It's really not a problem, but I thought you might appreciate knowing there was a small surcharge as the postage wasn't quite enough. Happy New Year."

Sorted.

custardy

moneysavingnitwit wrote: »

Why would I pay £1 to drive to the sorting office and collect my own mail? It was different when the postman could collect money but now they apparently aren't allowed to. If we had to put sender's address on all mail as they do in Europe and USA, we could let them be sent back and not risk offence. My elderly parents had a card from my brother that was 2mm wider than allowed, so looked like it was OK. They were flummoxed by the card from PO, and had to go to considerable trouble to collect said card - not funny when you're over 90. :mad:

Why wouldnt you simply pay online or with stamps and get the item delivered?

and to all posting in this thread.
You are referring to Royal Mail,not Post office counters
maybe a reflection of why people struggle to pay the correct postage when they dont get the difference between RM and POC

Cimscate

My sister inadvertently did this to me a few years ago - I devised a rhyme explaining what had happened, can't remember much of it but it included something like 'he says he must have money, sixty seven p, before he will release it and bring it here to me'.

We both had a good laugh and I didn't care at all. Might be different if she did it every year though!

milvusvestal

Unless your envelopes traditionally contain something worth having, just don't bother to claim them from the Post Office.

You'll quickly be able to work out who the culprits were by listing senders of the cards you have had with full postage on and, as soon as you've identified them, stop sending any cards to those people who aren't on the list.

If you don't want to do that, reciprocate in kind when it's your turn to send a card. They'll get the message sooner or later, and you won't be out of pocket at all.

Cazx1957

This happened to me twice last year, one a Christmas card which was a large letter, had to pay the difference plus £1 - we never told the person but didn't receive one from them this year and must admit we were expecting the same thing to happen!

The other was a (large) cheque from my solicitors that I had been waiting for! We decided to go down the route of sticking the amount required in stamps to the card telling us, as it just said our surname and not Mr or Mrs etc (most annoying!).
Posted it and it then took over a week for the 'item' to get delivered! Was fuming with the solicitors but someone rang me about feedback after my case had closed and I mentioned it. A couple of weeks later I received a £25 gift card and another apology.

Fujiko

Not sure whether these are letters from the same people each year or different people, but you are very unlucky! Can't remember whether I have ever had anything with insufficient postage but I certainly wouldn't pay unless I was sure it was worth having. However, I do wonder what happens to items like this if they are not collected. Ideally they should be returned to sender, in which case the message about insuffcient postage would get across, but in the case of Christmas cards how many people put a return address on the envelope?