Royal Mail £8 Internal Post Handling Fee scam?

mazza111

doveman wrote: »

That doesn't make any sense. It should be more economical for RM if they're dealing with lots of parcels (economy of scale).

I'll just use DHL and pay £1.25 and RM can stick their £8 fee.

No it does make sense because each item is dealt with individually. Therefore the same work goes into every item, whether it be worth £50 or £500. Therefore the costs of each item are the same. You have the choice as stated before of dealing with customs yourself. You have chosen to have DHL do it for you. Some are cheaper than RM but some are more expensive. DHL are obviously trying a clever bit of PR here, and fair play to them. If I had the choice maybe I'd be tempted to use them. But then again, probably not as my dealings with them in the past hasn't been great, but that's a different story The options are there for people to use.

Andy_L

doveman wrote: »

I've ordered vitamins from the US several times and always use DHL as they only charge £1.25 admin fee when there's duty/VAT to collect where it's less than £62.50 (or 2% if it's above that).

http://www.dhl.co.uk/en/express/shipping/customs_support/duties_taxes.html

So unless HMRC charge DHL a lot less, I can only assume that RM is either much more inefficient (meaning it actually costs them £8 to process a parcel) or they're making £6.75 more profit to process a parcel.

or DHL are running at a loss in order to attract customers

doveman

custardy wrote: »

why does a % make more sense?
what are the increased cost as the value of an item rises.
you are comparing apples and oranges.
DHL have a tracked service from point to point.
RMs doesnt(and can't given their service requirements)
If you have an issue with the fee then the simple answer is to do your own clearance for £0

Er no, the simple answer is to use DHL!

I'm not paying a % I'm paying £1.25. It's 2% for items over something like £62 but even then it's a lot cheaper in most cases (i.e. £2 for £100)

And DHL's tracked service is an extra reason to use them. If I choose to have the item shipped by Airmail (which then goes to RM in the UK), it's not tracked and I get no compensation if the item gets lost.

custardy

doveman wrote: »

Er no, the simple answer is to use DHL!

I'm not paying a % I'm paying £1.25. It's 2% for items over something like £62 but even then it's a lot cheaper in most cases (i.e. £2 for £100)

And DHL's tracked service is an extra reason to use them. If I choose to have the item shipped by Airmail (which then goes to RM in the UK), it's not tracked and I get no compensation if the item gets lost.

good for you

doveman

mazza111 wrote: »

No it does make sense because each item is dealt with individually. Therefore the same work goes into every item, whether it be worth £50 or £500. Therefore the costs of each item are the same. You have the choice as stated before of dealing with customs yourself. You have chosen to have DHL do it for you. Some are cheaper than RM but some are more expensive. DHL are obviously trying a clever bit of PR here, and fair play to them. If I had the choice maybe I'd be tempted to use them. But then again, probably not as my dealings with them in the past hasn't been great, but that's a different story The options are there for people to use.

You don't make any sense. You said it was cheaper for DHL because they had fewer packages to deal with. Now you're saying it makes no difference how many packages RM have to deal with. Do you think that DHL don't have to deal with each item individually as well?

I'm sure some people have had bad experiences with DHL, others with RM. Just wanted people to know they have options other than paying RM £8 or dealing with customs themselves.

adouglasmhor

I got charged for goods from Sweden, problem being the duty paid label was in Swedish and none of the muppets involved thought to find out what it said.

I claimed from sender, they refunded and then they got Swedish post to claim back from UK customs and RM.

Idiot at HMRC sugested it had come from a free trade point in Sweden.

doveman

Andy_L wrote: »

or DHL are running at a loss in order to attract customers

If they are, that's up to them and obviously works (on me at least!).

Makes no difference to me if they're choosing to lose a bit on the customs processing in order to get my business. I doubt they're making a loss overall on my transaction.

doveman

custardy wrote: »

good for you

Indeed it is.

mazza111

doveman wrote: »

You don't make any sense. You said it was cheaper for DHL because they had fewer packages to deal with. Now you're saying it makes no difference how many packages RM have to deal with. Do you think that DHL don't have to deal with each item individually as well?

I'm sure some people have had bad experiences with DHL, others with RM. Just wanted people to know they have options other than paying RM £8 or dealing with customs themselves.

Try reading again. It's only one reason why RM may be more expensive. I know myself how long it takes logging everything from the side of the delivery office, more work is done before it gets to that stage. Well worth the £8 imo, would be a bit gutted at paying more than that. I think if you seen the work that goes into these items you wouldn't complain at the cost.

There have been plenty of other options already given on how to avoid the fee. If you are happy for DHL to do this then very good for you. Personally, I would rather have RM delivering it where I know it will be given the proper care and attention. Yes, I know there are some posties who don't in certain areas, doesn't happen in this area, end of! But from my experience I won't use DHL again if I can possibly avoid. Not relevant what it was, but it's happened on several occasions.

If they are, that's up to them and obviously works (on me at least!).

Makes no difference to me if they're choosing to lose a bit on the customs processing in order to get my business. I doubt they're making a loss overall on my transaction.

That's DHL's choice if they are making a loss, it's also RM's choice to make a small amount of profit on these items. Just as it's your choice to get DHL to pay the customs fees for you, just as it's the choice of others to declare their own customs or not, unfortunately it's ignorance of not knowing how things work that's causing these problems. I'll stick to RM doing the work for me.

doveman

mazza111 wrote: »

Try reading again. It's only one reason why RM may be more expensive. I know myself how long it takes logging everything from the side of the delivery office, more work is done before it gets to that stage. Well worth the £8 imo, would be a bit gutted at paying more than that. I think if you seen the work that goes into these items you wouldn't complain at the cost.

I don't need to read again. It's clear you're determined to try and defend RM's fee for whatever reason. Are you suggesting it's somehow easier and less work for DHL to process each item (do they have fairies that help them)?

There have been plenty of other options already given on how to avoid the fee. If you are happy for DHL to do this then very good for you. Personally, I would rather have RM delivering it where I know it will be given the proper care and attention. Yes, I know there are some posties who don't in certain areas, doesn't happen in this area, end of! But from my experience I won't use DHL again if I can possibly avoid. Not relevant what it was, but it's happened on several occasions.

It's understandable if you've had problems with DHL that you don't want to use them. I haven't, so I'm quite happy to. The last parcel RM delivered was soaked in one corner (which thankfully didn't affect the item).

That's DHL's choice if they are making a loss, it's also RM's choice to make a small amount of profit on these items. Just as it's your choice to get DHL to pay the customs fees for you, just as it's the choice of others to declare their own customs or not, unfortunately it's ignorance of not knowing how things work that's causing these problems. I'll stick to RM doing the work for me.

If you're happy to pay RM £8, then very good for you. I'll stick to paying DHL £1.25 to deliver my parcels without any problems.