new parcel prices - OMG!

becki_2012

Went to the post office to post two ebay parcels, both around 700g mark, i knew prices had gone up so was aware of this, however...before prices rose these parcels would have cost me £3.15 each (2nd class recorded)

new price for 2nd class signed for - £6.30 each! i cannot believe they have jacked the price up so much.

p.o office assistant said they have had a few people walk away and not want to pay the new prices,she said its ridiculous.

Sorry royal mail you have lost another customer - i used a courier in the end for the sum of £7 for both parcels!

soolin

becki_2012 wrote: »

Went to the post office to post two ebay parcels, both around 700g mark, i knew prices had gone up so was aware of this, however...before prices rose these parcels would have cost me £3.15 each (2nd class recorded)

new price for 2nd class signed for - £6.30 each! i cannot believe they have jacked the price up so much.

p.o office assistant said they have had a few people walk away and not want to pay the new prices,she said its ridiculous.

Sorry royal mail you have lost another customer - i used a courier in the end for the sum of £7 for both parcels!

I do hope they weren't ebay sales where the buyer is expecting it via RM otherwise you may have problems.

You say you were aware of the increases, most of us changed our listings several weeks back to take into account the new prices so we could move to courier and show this service properly on our listings.

Also if you were aware of the increases why were you surprised at how much the PO tried to charge you? We were all worried when we saw the new prices, we've spent over a month on here on endless threads discussing options.

porto_bello

It may help reduce the cost simply by packaging to fit RM dimensions, rather than logically. For example:

- Laying items side by side to send as a large letter, rather than naturally packaging them as a small packet (simple example: 3 decks of playing cards side by side would go as a large letter, but in a pile as a small packet).

- Sending two/several packages instead of one may be dramatically cheaper: (simple example: sending 3 piles of 7 CDs will go as 3 small parcels just under 1kg, but 21 CDs will go as a medium parcel, under 5kg, which is dramatically more expensive)

RFW

becki_2012 wrote: »

Sorry royal mail you have lost another customer - i used a courier in the end for the sum of £7 for both parcels!

Unfortunately that's what they want. The way they see it when you were sending previously you were losing them money.

TKPeters

soolin wrote: »

I do hope they weren't ebay sales where the buyer is expecting it via RM otherwise you may have problems.

As long as she stated 2nd class & sent them via Collect+ the delivery time is the same.

Weirdly we change all our all listing from RM 1st Class to Other 48 Courier [no RM48 option] on eBay & eBay still state 1 working day delivery??

RFW wrote: »

Unfortunately that's what they want. The way they see it when you were sending previously you were losing them money.

How are personal customers losing the Royal Mail money & not Businesses? Businesses can still post without the new Parcel sizes

RFW

TKPeters wrote: »

How are personal customers losing the Royal Mail money & not Businesses? Businesses can still post without the new Parcel sizes

Not that I'm defending it in anyway, but I'd assume it's relative to the work involved. Generally speaking business customers would drop bulk parcels off, where private may only drop one and spend an hour doing so. Businesses are more likely to have items addressed correctly, with return addresses, should problems arise. Also packaging is likely to be better and easier to handle (some personal parcels I've seen dropped off at Post Offices look like they'll fall apart in seconds. There would be other factors of turnover and regular trade.

The problem is defining what Royal Mail should be. Some of the changes, reducing requirements for account customers, look as though they may be a step in the right direction. Others seem off the cuff and ill thought out.

virgil_tracy

becki_2012 wrote: »

Went to the post office to post two ebay parcels, both around 700g mark, i knew prices had gone up so was aware of this, however...before prices rose these parcels would have cost me £3.15 each (2nd class recorded)

new price for 2nd class signed for - £6.30 each! i cannot believe they have jacked the price up so much.

p.o office assistant said they have had a few people walk away and not want to pay the new prices,she said its ridiculous.

Sorry royal mail you have lost another customer - i used a courier in the end for the sum of £7 for both parcels!

Indeed .

many people are getting a shock at the post office . plenty knew the prices were going up of course but they didn't expect it to be double the price .

and you needed to be a detective to find out the new prices , even the post office staff are confused by them .

Hermia

TKPeters wrote: »

As long as she stated 2nd class & sent them via Collect+ the delivery time is the same.

Weirdly we change all our all listing from RM 1st Class to Other 48 Courier [no RM48 option] on eBay & eBay still state 1 working day delivery??

I don't think the issue is the time scales, I think it's more to do with whether using a courier is a major pain for the buyer. I live in an area where courier depots are few and far between and I have got very annoyed with ebayers who said they would send via RM and then used a courier. The last time this happened to me the courier would not deliver to work so I could not get the parcel redelivered as I wasn't going to be at home when they could redeliver. The depot was 65 miles away as well! Sellers definitely need to inform buyers if they are going to change the advertised service.

Froggitt

porto_bello wrote: »

It may help reduce the cost simply by packaging to fit RM dimensions, rather than logically. For example:

- Laying items side by side to send as a large letter, rather than naturally packaging them as a small packet (simple example: 3 decks of playing cards side by side would go as a large letter, but in a pile as a small packet).

Thats what I did.....two DVDs side by side in an A4 sizes envelope was a large letter.