First Class stamp up 30%

What will be the effect of the postal increase on you?

  • No effect, I still think it's great value for money.

    Votes: 35 50.0%

  • Slight effect, it will reduce the number of letters I send

    Votes: 6 8.6%

  • Royal Mail are having a laugh, many will reduce posting generally and it's the death knell for RM.

    Votes: 21 30.0%

  • I haven't used Royal Mail for some time, it's email for me.

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • Total voters
    70
  • Poll closed .
gramps

gramps

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No
So at the end of April a 1st Class stamp will go up to 60 pence, an immediate increase of 30%.
Is this Royal Mail having a laugh or is it a case of value for money?
Will it affect your business or your letter-sending habits?
Is it a sign of things to come from many other 'suppliers' as we 'Brits' are seemingly prepared to put up with anything?
 
I think it is a good idea, I know it seems a lot but for far too long it has been underpriced. Just because it has been around forever does not mean it can be relied on as an non-profit machine. We take it for granted, perhaps we should stop and think what it actually involves in sending a letter/parcel.

You try taking a letter from Manchester to Liverpool (roughly 30 miles) and see how much that costs. It is all relative, I know but we can't afford to let the mail service go under and more handouts from the government are not the answer.

There are some deeper feelings that the workforce is to blame too for some of the bad practices of the mail but I doubt we would get a good debate on here by arguing over that!
 
It means the government are getting ready to sell it off, whack up 1st class post, make the company look attractive, flog it, then watch it go the the way of all the utility companys with zero customer service, sky high prices and being owned by profit mongering monkeys from god knows where.
 
I don't often post letters so no biggy to me however I don't mind paying a little bit more for a service that works properly ;)
 
I'd happily pay double the going rate if I know for certain whatever I put in the post will get to it's destination and on time.
But lately, the Royal Fail has become very shoddy in just about every way, from the two letters and two parcels I've posted off a month ago still all missing to now getting the post after mid day.
Gone are the days when upon awakening at 7 am and the postie has been, nowadays the post arrives just I am about to tuck into supper.
 
I voted okay to the rise.

Whilst its a big hike and you'd hope the service would improve I doubt that. When you put it down to brass tacks, what other service could deliver any item in the uk following day in most cases for the price of a bag of crisps. I still think its good value in this age of computers and email.
 
it's the commercial sector that will feel it the most... i suppose this could mean a reduction in the junk mail we get through the door - but on the other hand an SME sending out a couple of hundred items a day is an increase of £10k a year - that cost has to be passed on :shrug:

I'm not fussed either way.. minimal business mail and virtually no personal mail.
 
Yes it may not be perfect but I do think that its great value for money that you can send a letter anywhere in the country for 60p or so. Yes, they get it wrong, but I rarely have issues with them.
 
I hardly ever use the post, so it won't really make any difference to me, but I realise that there are quite a lot of people who don't have email/internet or don't feel comfortable using it for one reason or another. It's bound to increase costs for some businesses though, and I suppose those will be passed on to the customer.
 
It's not a huge amount and it's a lot easier than hand posting.

Still great value.
 
I can't vote.

It will have no effect on me but the option -

No effect, I still think it's great value for money.

doesn't apply. I don't think it is great value for money due to RMs continued incompetence and indifference towards its customers. I'm sure any SmartStamp or PO Box users here will agree with me.
 
gramps said:
So at the end of April a 1st Class stamp will go up to 60 pence, an immediate increase of 30%.
Is this Royal Mail having a laugh or is it a case of value for money?
Will it affect your business or your letter-sending habits?
Is it a sign of things to come from many other 'suppliers' as we 'Brits' are seemingly prepared to put up with anything?
Click to expand...

Not unlike down here gramps.....increase already in place although I don't think it was as much as 30%

I appreciate that when looked at ratonally it is good value for money....sadly it ends up being an increase in nearly all services ( gas, electricity, phone etc) and typically the average working persons wage doesn't get incresed sufficiently to make up the differences.

Out of curiosity, will this mean that the insurance cover for lost parcels will increase to £60 as it's always been equivalent to the value of 100 first class stamps?
 
Ian D J said:
Gone are the days when upon awakening at 7 am and the postie has been, nowadays the post arrives just I am about to tuck into supper.
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So true, paper this morning said it would be later still soon!
Actually my home/office is not part of a dedicated round, it's shared by three posties who do it after they've finished their normal round ... maybe the price increase will provide a dedicated postie :shrug:
 
Don't know if it'll affect me much, is there a rise across the board or is it just on letter stamps?
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
Don't know if it'll affect me much, is there a rise across the board or is it just on letter stamps?
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on everything. Biggest change I have seen is with parcels. £2.60 (I think) is now the lowest price. They have scrapped a load of weight bands and lumped them all together with a higher price....lots of small businesses on twitter moaning this, but I can't remember I paid as little as £2.60 for P&P from any site, and I order a fair few small parcels (ink, paper etc)
 
My sister and I probably have a couple of years supply of 1st and 2nd class stamps thanks to our late aunt so we won't be worried for a while.
 
It is such a big rise because the last regulator did not allow the prices to go up and cover Royal Mail's costs, plus the Government is preparing for the sell off.
I think that we will look back in a few years and say "Do you remember when Royal Mail was quite good" :D
 
nilagin said:
My sister and I probably have a couple of years supply of 1st and 2nd class stamps thanks to our late aunt so we won't be worried for a while.
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Mmm be careful as if the value of the stamp you put on the letter isn't the present value then you may have the letter returned to you or the recipient requested to pay the "insufficiant postage"
 
Asha said:
Mmm be careful as if the value of the stamp you put on the letter isn't the present value then you may have the letter returned to you or the recipient requested to pay the "insufficiant postage"
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Currently in the UK if a stamp is just marked 1st Class or 2nd Class it will remain valid even if the price increases, however haven't seen any panic buying yet :D
 
gramps said:
Currently in the UK if a stamp is just marked 1st Class or 2nd Class it will remain valid even if the price increases, however haven't seen any panic buying yet :D
Click to expand...

Well I never knew that!.........I wonder who will be the first TPer to buy up the remaining 46p stamps in their local P.O ?? lol......Calculation based on a purchase of one thousand first class stamps would equal a saving of £140...enough to buy a 2nd hand F/1.8 35mm lens!!
 
I'm another one who doesn't post much - for one thing, I'm an antisocial beggar who tends to only use the Post for birthday and christmas cards. local post gets delivered by hand and less local corespondence gets carried out electronically.
We will be buying plenty of 1st class stamps before the increase to cut seasonal costs a little...
 
I stole the joke, can't recall where from though..

So,


I put a letter in a postbox and:


A man in a van comes and picks it up and drives it to a sorting office.
another man unloads it, and it is put into a machine and it is sorted.
A woman then puts it into another van and drives to a bigger sorting office.
Where another woman unloads it, someone else sorts it again then it is put into an even bigger truck and driven to the airport.
It is then put onto a plane and flown to the other end of the country. It is then unloaded from the plane and driven to a sorting office.
Then another person unloads it, and it is put into another sorting machine and then put onto a smaller van and delivered to another sorting office.
Another man then takes it out of the van and it is then sorted by hand and then another man loads it into a bag.
That bag is then put on a bicycle and a woman then rides the bike for a mile and a half where she puts it through a letter box of the door who I sent it to.


And all for 60p!!
 
I post about 10 large letter packets a day, its going to have a massive effect on me.

As was said earlier, if it guarenteed a quality service, then I wouldnt mind so much, but consdering they have lost 6 packets in the last week alone, and had the cheek to start saying I was underpaying postage two weeks ago before these price rises were annouced then Im not amused.

I had anohter 6-7 letters with "underpaid postage" in the last 2 weeks. Ive been sending exactly the same packets, with exactly the same contents, with exactly the same postage everyday for almost 2 years and only had 1 underpaid postage, where I stupidly forgot to attach a stamp..

Co-incidence??

Money grabbing barstewards more like.
 
gramps said:
Currently in the UK if a stamp is just marked 1st Class or 2nd Class it will remain valid even if the price increases, however haven't seen any panic buying yet :D
Click to expand...


You are wrong. Both RM shop and staples have sold out of 50 stamp sheets of 2nd class large stamps..

I tried to buy some earlier. :thumbsdown:
 
Stampconartstcartoon.jpg
 
I don't post things too often, so am not so bothered by it. 60p is still good value. But I do see how this is going to add up for big companies.
 
TCR4x4 said:
As was said earlier, if it guarenteed a quality service, then I wouldnt mind so much, but consdering they have lost 6 packets in the last week alone, and had the cheek to start saying I was underpaying postage two weeks ago before these price rises were annouced then Im not amused.

Money grabbing barstewards more like.
Click to expand...

Ian D J said:
I'd happily pay double the going rate if I know for certain whatever I put in the post will get to it's destination and on time.
But lately, the Royal Fail has become very shoddy in just about every way, from the two letters and two parcels I've posted off a month ago still all missing to now getting the post after mid day.
Gone are the days when upon awakening at 7 am and the postie has been, nowadays the post arrives just I am about to tuck into supper.
Click to expand...

My better half runs a shop on a well known auction site as well as having another online shop selling mostly vintage/antique ceramics. Over the last 3 years she has probably posted over 2000 items with at least 1500 of these in the UK and we have not had a single one lost and I could count on one hand those that have arrived damaged. As far as we are concerned Royal Mail provide and excellent cost effective service, especially Small Packet Airmail and dread the day it is privatised and god forbid we have to rely on private couriers.

Steve
 
Am I the only one who thinks 60p is ridiculously cheap in this day and age?
The company obviously needs to raise money to cover costs, never mind investment
If I order something online, I'm happy to pay postage, so whats the effect on business supplying customers?
It'll elimenate crap junkmail, saving many a tree in the process
We might actually see improvements in the service

As Lawrie put it better

A man in a van comes and picks it up and drives it to a sorting office.
another man unloads it, and it is put into a machine and it is sorted.
A woman then puts it into another van and drives to a bigger sorting office.
Where another woman unloads it, someone else sorts it again then it is put into an even bigger truck and driven to the airport.
It is then put onto a plane and flown to the other end of the country. It is then unloaded from the plane and driven to a sorting office.
Then another person unloads it, and it is put into another sorting machine and then put onto a smaller van and delivered to another sorting office.
Another man then takes it out of the van and it is then sorted by hand and then another man loads it into a bag.
That bag is then put on a bicycle and a woman then rides the bike for a mile and a half where she puts it through a letter box of the door who I sent it to.


And all for 60p!!
 
steve_v said:
My better half runs a shop on a well known auction site as well as having another online shop selling mostly vintage/antique ceramics. Over the last 3 years she has probably posted over 2000 items with at least 1500 of these in the UK and we have not had a single one lost and I could count on one hand those that have arrived damaged. As far as we are concerned Royal Mail provide and excellent cost effective service, especially Small Packet Airmail and dread the day it is privatised and god forbid we have to rely on private couriers.

Steve
Click to expand...

Well she is lucky
Guess what, about 10 mins ago, another message from an eBay customer entitled "where is my item"

So that's another refund I have to dish out, as RM's claim system is frankly ridiculous.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Well she is lucky
Guess what, about 10 mins ago, another message from an eBay customer entitled "where is my item"

So that's another refund I have to dish out, as RM's claim system is frankly ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I've not looked into this so ask it only out of curiosity but how do the alternative private companies that already exist compare to RM in terms of price and reliability?
 
TriggerHappy said:
I've not looked into this so ask it only out of curiosity but how do the alternative private companies that already exist compare to RM in terms of price and reliability?
Click to expand...

Think you#ll find good and bad opinions on all of them, it's human nature :D

One report I heard on ther news yesterday is that this is a prelude to selling off RM, (they never tell the staff anything:( )
If they do present conditions, pricing restrictions, 6 day delifvery and every address in the UK etc. , will apply until 2015 when all restrictions would be listed, so enjoy what you have for a couple of years :thumbsdown:
 
TCR4x4 said:
Well she is lucky
Guess what, about 10 mins ago, another message from an eBay customer entitled "where is my item"

So that's another refund I have to dish out, as RM's claim system is frankly ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Its not that we never get 'where is my item' messages but when we receive them their parcels are always at the local sorting office. Have you thought of asking them to check before issuing a refund!? Having posted in excess of 1500 items in the uk over the last 3 yrs and considering not a single one lost I would think its a little bit more than good luck.

Steve
 
steve_v said:
Its not that we never get 'where is my item' messages but when we receive them their parcels are always at the local sorting office. Have you thought of asking them to check before issuing a refund!? Having posted in excess of 1500 items in the uk over the last 3 yrs and considering not a single one lost I would think its a little bit more than good luck.

Steve
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You are talking parcels. I'm talking either envelopes or small packets sent standard 2nd class delivery. The items I send only cost 99p to £2.00 so there is no other way of doing it. I have no choice but to refund, as I then get low DSR and bad feedback and loose my top rated seller status, which in turn means I loose my 20% fee discount, which then ontop of postal charges, PayPal fees, eBay fees, packaging and stock leaves me with no profit at all.
 
Another 2 items not received claims today.

Royal Mail is a joke. No other company would get away with such ****poor service.
 
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