Postal Charges!

[pinkbubble]

I have received a postcard this morning from The Royal Mail telling me that they were unable to deliver an item as the sender didn't pay full postage.

Payment due is £1.06 (underneath payment is clearly states that included in the fee is a £1 handling charge)

So basically the person who sent my letter(and I have no idea who it is from)under paid by 6p.

Surely Royal Mail make enough profits not to make the receiver pay £1 handling fee, fair enough to pay the extra 6p.

Just hope this flippin' letter is worth £1.06 and a trip into town that I could well have done without!

Thats better, rant over.

[littlemisssensible]

YANBU!

It's almost certainly because someone has posted you something in an A4 envelope but not put a Large Letter stamp on it! The confusion over the correct postage for various sized envelopes is a real pain!

You can get them to deliver it by putting £1.06 worth of stamps PLUS a 2nd class stamp on to that postcard and then posting it to them! (Don't forget that extra 2nd class stamp or they'll just send the postcard back to you....as I discovered!)

[bookwormtailmum]

Hope it's not junk mail

[pinkbubble]

I will not be impressed if it is junk mail. I have to do the town thing as I am going on holiday on the weekend and I cant possibly wait for 2wks!(patience is not my strongest)

[kslatts]

We had this a couple of month's ago and when I got to the sorting office to collect it and pay the extra postage the man there told me it looked like junk mail as they had not been able to deliver quite a few of them because the company had underpaid postage on every one. I decided not to pay the postage and the letter was returned.

[curlywurlycremeegg]

YANBU it is crap, if you go to the depot to collect it you can have a look at the envelope but not open it, if you think it isn't important after having looked at it then just tell them you don't want it and you don't have to pay.

[pinkbubble]

I have just returned, and I'm a bit shocked. It was a letter from the hospital, and they had put it in an A4 envelope so it didn't get folded (it was an important letter just incase I get stopped through customs explaining my meds).

I am very surprised that the hospital didn't know any better and would have thought that they knew all about different sizes etc.

[americantrish]

pinkbubble > i JUST had this with my MIL's birthday card to me. exact same thing.

i was SO pissed off. it's not like the royal mail is fantastic service or anything.

[pinkbubble]

I'm still a bit cross, so glad I didnt just ignore the postcard or attach the stamps and wait for it to be delivered to me, as I need the leter this weekend!

At the moment I'm not sure whether I'm more cross with the Post Office or the hospital!

[littlemisssensible]

I think the current postal system is pretty confusing but I'd have expected a big organisation like a hospital to know full well that it should be putting large letter stamps on A4 envelopes! After all, I bet they send out loads of those!

[Sixofone]

YANBU. I'd be cross with the hospital, hope you kept a receipt! Insist they pay it back!

Did you know that if you order anything from overseas now and it is something you have to pay Customs duty on, Royal Mail now want to charge £8 yes £8 to deliver it to you!

[Sixofone]

I would say though, as I work in a hospital and I know how these things work...we had a memo round saying we were only allowed to use 'small' envelopes, not even A5 size, as they couldn't afford the extra postage charges, so we now have to cram a zillion bits of paper into a weeny envelope.

I bet the department has run out of the envelopes they were supposed to use, (we do it all the time as you can't just 'order stationery', you have to get it approved by 3 tiers of management and no I am not joking) they just used what they had but the franking was not reset to take account of the larger envelope.

[bookwormtailmum]

I worked in a local authority last year, in the licensing dept and they happily folded up the various licences (A4 sized) to send out to pubs, beauty therapy salons etc to scrape into the cheaper postage rates. Bearing in mind that these are generally displayed in pubs (and the licensees pay a hefty amount for the application process) I thought this was pretty shocking. I'm sure most people would rather pay a bit more for additional postage costs or collect the licenses in person so they wouldn't get a creased licence. I used to put them in A4 envelopes and be done with it .

[pinkbubble]

This envelope actually had a first class stamp on it, so it doesn't have the excuse of not going through a franking machine - maybe that is what the problem is!

Is it odd to get a letter from the hospital with a stamp and not a frank???? IYKWIM

[bookwormtailmum]

Some dimwit in the postroom then who didn't measure it in the letter size template.

[mm22bys]

YANBU.

If correct postage is paid, and if they can't actually deliver because it's a parcel and you're not home, they will reattempt delivery at no extra cost.

But if you are short one p, they will sting you one pound.

Doesn't make sense...

I know it's to discourage underpayments, but why should the receiver be penalised for the sender's mistake?

[SleeplessInTheStaceym11House]

thye dont re-attempt delivery around here, have to go to the office!

[mm22bys]

Actually, they SAY they will re-deliver, but you have to ring them, and there is never an answer...


So I do actually end up going down there myself anyways!

[pinkbubble]

I also think its really unfair in making the receiver pay, for goodness sake it was 6p, and I had to pay a handling fee of £1. Surely it doesnt cost someones time to write a postcard for a pound, if so I would like that job.

The Royal Mail have you really don't they, I know for one I wont tell the person that they didnt pay the correct postage, too embarrassed that they will think I'm being tight!. But also glad at the same time they didnt return the letter to sender as I did needed it!

[SleeplessInTheStaceym11House]

at least it wasnt junk!