Question about Royal Mail

djpailo

Didn't know where else to put it.

I've got to send an A4 letter trough the post (it consists of three pages in total). I will use an A4 envelope. How many stamps will this require?

Thanks :j

Fosterdog

It would be one large letter stamp

p00hsticks

djpailo wrote: »

Didn't know where else to put it.

I've got to send an A4 letter trough the post (it consists of three pages in total). I will use an A4 envelope. How many stamps will this require?

Thanks

I'll avoid ( or perhaps not) the first pedantic answer that comes to mind, which is - it depends what value of stamps you use!

Unless it's more than 5mm thick (I'll assume not) it's going to class as a large letter, and the precise cost will depend on how much it weighs and the destination.

Unless it's a really thick A4 paper and envelope then it's going to weigh under 100g, in which case it's 93p first class or 73p second class - you can get first and second class 'Large Letter' stamps that are priced at these amounts (or more often than not are just marked '1st' and '2nd' ) from most stamp retailers

You can also pay extra if the contents are valuable, need to be tracked, next day delivery etc

http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder

( standard 1st and second class stamps have a value of 62p and 53p respectively, so if you are in a hurry and can afford to waste a few pence, two normal first class stamps will more than cover the price of a large letter stamp)

I've got a great little cardboard balance and a fold out sheet that Royal Mail put through the door when they first introduced the Large Letter format- the balance lets you roughly weigh a letter to determine if it is less that 20g, 40g, 60g or 100g, and has a 5mm slot to check the thickness, whilst the fold out sheet shows the maximum size beyond which a 'letter' becomes a 'large letter'

djpailo

Thanks for the info guys, appreciate it. I think I'll head over to the post office and buy those large stamps. Its sending something valuable (certificates) so I might look into that too.

Mojisola

djpailo wrote: »

I think I'll head over to the post office and buy those large stamps. Its sending something valuable (certificates) so I might look into that too.

If you're going to go to the PO to buy the stamp, ask the staff for advice.

If you're sending certificates, won't you need to put some cardboard in the envelope to stop it being folded up?

djpailo

Mojisola wrote: »

If you're going to go to the PO to buy the stamp, ask the staff for advice.

If you're sending certificates, won't you need to put some cardboard in the envelope to stop it being folded up?

I'm not sure. Its just I had two first class stamps (wasn't sure whether it needed one or two and wanted to save the travel costs of going to post office) but I didn't know about the large stamps so now I'll just go to the post office and get it sorted there and do some other things. Anyway, I prefer hearing info from unbiased people rather than someone trying to sell me stuff I may not need.

Its a transcript of my results. Not bothered too much because I had two sets of transcripts sent to me, one of which is in pristine condition and the other is used for job stuff

Fosterdog

You can put on two normal stamps to act as a large letter stamp, that's what we do in work. We buy normal stamps in 100s and just put as many as we need on for the size of the letter

custardy

djpailo wrote: »

Thanks for the info guys, appreciate it. I think I'll head over to the post office and buy those large stamps. Its sending something valuable (certificates) so I might look into that too.

Lets stop the bus right here.
For one as has been posted,you could easily have got a price from the RM site.
However define valuable? If these are hard/expensive to replace.
Do you think its worth considering insurance rather than a basic stamp?

agrinnall

custardy wrote: »

Lets stop the bus right here.
For one as has been posted,you could easily have got a price from the RM site.
However define valuable? If these are hard/expensive to replace.
Do you think its worth considering insurance rather than a basic stamp?

I agree with you that the RM site would have been the obvious first stop, and indeed the OP could have bought and printed the necessary postage then and there. However, they have already said that the copy of the transcript being sent is a working copy, and that they're not bothered if it goes missing.

If it was me I'd have just scanned and emailed it and saved the postage altogether.

arcon5

Sounds like it's sentimental value rather than monetary value. Recorded or special delivery would seem appropriate to be able to track/trace it.

p00hsticks

Fosterdog wrote: »

You can put on two normal stamps to act as a large letter stamp, that's what we do in work. We buy normal stamps in 100s and just put as many as we need on for the size of the letter

You're paying at least 13p and possibly 31p more than you need to each time by doing that (depending on whether you're using 2nd or 1st class stamps) - not very money saving ! Why not just suggest they buy some proper 'large letter' stamps ?