Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

adastra_2

Or you could get RM to do it for you for £8

I probably had 40 or 50 small packages sent from non eu countries last year, electronic parts and other stuff, so doing the clearance here could save 3 to 400 ukp per year. Probably set up some macros or pdf stuff to automate the process as well, depending on how the hmrc forms are structured.

Small, freelance businesses are often on a tight budget and 3 to 400 per year is not a trivial mount...

Regards,

Chris

custardy

adastra wrote: »

I probably had 40 or 50 small packages sent from non eu countries last year, electronic parts and other stuff, so doing the clearance here could save 3 to 400 ukp per year. Probably set up some macros or pdf stuff to automate the process as well, depending on how the hmrc forms are structured.

Small, freelance businesses are often on a tight budget and 3 to 400 per year is not a trivial mount...

Regards,

Chris

and they have an open market plus a free option

adastra_2

they dont,they have an obligation
the market is open
its just the competitors have no interest in the non/low profit parts of the business
but then that thinking doesnt really fit in with that £8 being a fortune

I've heard all the arguments and a have an old friend who has worked maintenance at the local main office for decades. Lots of discussions etc over beers. rm deserve a lot of sympathy, with their future closely intertwined with politics and government of the day, but that's tempered by the feeling that the position they find themselves in is at least partly due to inept management, labour relations issues and lack of investment. It's a cold harsh business environment out there and there are no prizes for failure, even if they are trying to do the right thing.

Perhaps related: Our local post office is run by a very hard working family but the rewards barely cover the outlay. There was an armed robbery 7 or so years ago, noone injured thankfully, but rm wouldn't even pay for the cctv recorder which provided evidence to convict the robbers. I get called in to fix it, hard disks etc, when it goes wrong, but the shop paid 000's for the initial installation and got no help at all from rm from what i'm told.

So, ex postie, how do we fix it ?...

Regards,

Chris

custardy

adastra wrote: »

I've heard all the arguments and a have an old friend who has worked maintenance at the local main office for decades. Lots of discussions etc over beers. rm deserve a lot of sympathy, with their future closely intertwined with politics and government of the day, but that's tempered by the feeling that the position they find themselves in is at least partly due to inept management, labour relations issues and lack of investment. It's a cold harsh business environment out there and there are no prizes for failure, even if they are trying to do the right thing.

Perhaps related: Our local post office is run by a very hard working family but the rewards barely cover the outlay. There was an armed robbery 7 or so years ago, noone injured thankfully, but rm wouldn't even pay for the cctv recorder which provided evidence to convict the robbers. I get called in to fix it, hard disks etc, when it goes wrong, but the shop paid 000's for the initial installation and got no help at all from rm from what i'm told.

So, ex postie, how do we fix it ?...

Regards,

Chris

too little,too late
a classic line from the new government was no policy for closure of post offices
what they neglected to say was it doesnt stop post offices closing through the situation RM Plc puts them in
I came up with ideas and questioned many things in my time at RM
nothing ever changed
you only need to spend some time using RM software to see how cheaply its done.
its too late now. with the cuts and lack of vision/investment leaves the network in tatters.
what it needed was to be left alone.
opening up the market years before the EU required it was the nail in the coffin.
had they investing in RM before this then maybe. M struggled while competitors moved in with a safe monopolised home market.

adastra_2

too little,too late
a classic line from the new government was no policy for closure of post offices
what they neglected to say was it doesnt stop post offices closing through the situation RM Plc puts them in
I came up with ideas and questioned many things in my time at RM
nothing ever changed
you only need to spend some time using RM software to see how cheaply its done.
its too late now. with the cuts and lack of vision/investment leaves the network in tatters.
what it needed was to be left alone.
opening up the market years before the EU required it was the nail in the coffin.
had they investing in RM before this then maybe. M struggled while competitors moved in with a safe monopolised home market.

You sound just like our postman and I get an earfull regularly on the latest management scam. It's never too late though (glass is always half full here) and rm started off with the advantage of having the best infastructure. It should be recoverable, though what will happen meantime is anyone's guess. rm plc should start by stop thinking of the workforce as their greatest laibility and realise that they are their greatest asset. A business is nothing but the people and their goodwill, that work in it etc.

Some actions seem insane. I think it was around three years ago that parcel charges seemed to almost double overnight, maybe about the same time that the 4 went to 8 clearance fee. How that could be justified in inflation terms beats me, but I couldn't just pass those costs on and had to find cheaper alternatives. Like they were saying that they didn't want the business. Still think this is all part of the subtext to discard individual / post office business in favour of account customers in readiness for privatisation, but ymmv ...

Regards,

Chris

custardy

to show you how things are in RM
3 people have been sacked at my old office in the last 2 weeks
another 2(at least pending)
the office is now sitting with at least 14 vacancies
staff are being refused holidays that they are being told must be used by April

RM isnt recoverable in its present state. DSA is draining any chance of true income generation.
the £8 fee has been in place for at least 7 years

mazza111

RM will continue to go down the pan so to speak when they change things without asking staff what works. Look at horror stories over christmas in the offices that had machines telling posties how to do their job.

But that's a whole different story. As I've previously stated, as soon as customs get their hand on your parcel it effectively turns into a tracked item. Tracked at every step of the way. Which also involves costs.

The costs of installing POS machines locally i guess would be too great for Royal Mail, even if the customers would prefer it. They aren't making that much profit on these items when you think of the mileage and man hours that go into handling them. Not when you think that the lowest price for a special delivery is now about a fiver?

adastra_2

Here we have another one :eek:

Ordered a small quantity of parts from the states a few weeks ago and when the package arrived, the quantity was 68, when the order was for 75. Value around $15.00 total. Got in touch with the vendor, profuse apologies and sent me another 10 to make up for the shortfall and goodwill .

Card through the door today and off to the local office to collect, paid cheque and was handed the jiffy bag. Package value on bag shown as $2.50, more or less correct.

Customs Label Reads:

Import Duty: 0.00
Excise Duty: 0.00
Vat: 6.25
RM Fee: 8.00

---

Total: 14.25

So, query this, but local office said get in touch with rm and no, you can't have cheque back, nor will we send package back to mount pleasant.

Am waiting for a couple of other items as well, otherwise would have refused to pay had I known what was in the package.

After 6 minutes wading through the treacle which is rm's phone menu system, managed to speak to real person, who tells me that I must get in touch with hmrc. Call them, who tell me that I should send the package back to uk border agency at mount pleasant. Then sent email via rm website to the business section, quoting ref number and telling them that the cheque will be stopped.

Will they ever get their act together ?...

Regards,

Chris

newbiecontributor

adastra wrote: »

Here we have another one :eek:



Customs Label Reads:

Import Duty: 0.00
Excise Duty: 0.00
Vat: 6.25
RM Fee: 8.00

---

Total: 14.25

It was precisely cases such as this which I had a problem with. Low value items costing £8 a time is completely unreasonable, and like you said, if you import many items each year, you can save a lot of money by sorting the customs clearance yourself. It is a scam in so far as Royal Mail actively hold your parcel to ransom and will not release it until you've paid your fee.
Simple fact is- you've paid international shipping costs. You -have- to pay the customs duties as is to be expected, but you SHOULDN'T have to pay additional and extortionate clearance fees, unregulated and set as Royal Mail see fit.

And if it's relevant - Ex postie here too, but I see no reason why the average person needs ripping off!

custardy

newbiecontributor wrote: »

It was precisely cases such as this which I had a problem with. Low value items costing £8 a time is completely unreasonable, and like you said, if you import many items each year, you can save a lot of money by sorting the customs clearance yourself. It is a scam in so far as Royal Mail actively hold your parcel to ransom and will not release it until you've paid your fee.
Simple fact is- you've paid international shipping costs. You -have- to pay the customs duties as is to be expected, but you SHOULDN'T have to pay additional and extortionate clearance fees, unregulated and set as Royal Mail see fit.

And if it's relevant - Ex postie here too, but I see no reason why the average person needs ripping off!

so how is it not regulated then?
so companies should do it for free then?