Royal Mail Postage Rates - do you use the web and printed your own "labels"

BillN_33

BillN_33

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Had a row with the guy at the PO the other day who charged my wife £3.80 for a small parcel, 2nd class non tracked ...... my wife took it up and I went back and complained - it was the size of a large letter but he said it was more than 25cm thick, (which it wasn't, it was only 23cm I measured it) .... he said that it would not go through his letter box thing.

Anyway I have now got a plastic PO thing that measures whatever and will start to pay on-line and download a label

Anybody use the on-line service?

(update - my wife as just taken a large letter to the PO - clearly £1.80 on line but the local Post Office wants £2.00)

The guy at the PO gets paid a wage for doing the job, the PO get £1.80 for the stamp .........why should we pay more for the guy printing a label off and sticking it on a letter ...RAND .... my wife think's I'm mad!!
 
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I do it all the time. There have been occasions when the person at the PO has asked for more money saying the box is bigger than the one I paid for. When I point out that I buy the boxes from them and they are sold specifically to meet PO sizes and their display states the cost of postage when using them they always give in :)
 
Like Steve, all the time ... sometimes get it collected too. :)
 
I've been using it a couple of years now - it's great. (y)

I've only had one hiccup when they failed to pick up until the day after they said they would.

Sod dealing with PO counter employees - most of the ones I've dealt with in the last five years either don't speak English well enough or are just plain stupid. As for those in the queue, I'd best not say anything about them . . .
 
and as I have just found out; ..............if you just take a printed QR code to the PO they will print a sticky label free

so it's illogical

if I go on line the price is £1.80

if I take it to the PO the same is £2.00 ........ an extra 20p for printing a label and giving me a "personal" service

if I go on-line pay £1.80p print off the QR code and take it to the PO ........they will print the label off for free giving me the same "personal" service

mental!!
 
BillN_33 said:
and as I have just found out; ..............if you just take a printed QR code to the PO they will print a sticky label free

so it's illogical

if I go on line the price is £1.80

if I take it to the PO the same is £2.00 ........ an extra 20p for printing a label and giving me a "personal" service

if I go on-line pay £1.80p print off the QR code and take it to the PO ........they will print the label off for free giving me the same "personal" service

mental!!
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Just do it online and select 'collect' and 'bring label' - no going to PO, no printing anything. :)
 
gramps said:
Just do it online and select 'collect' and 'bring label' - no going to PO, no printing anything. :)
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The "collect" service was not available this time ....... but I'll give it a go next time .............I was a big BMW motorcycle and car fan for years and have 100's maybe thousands of magazines, brochures and articles going back to the 60's ......... probably worth £5 each at the lower end ......... something to keep my grand-daughter happy selling them and splitting the money
 
BillN_33 said:
...it was the size of a large letter but he said it was more than 25cm thick, (which it wasn't, it was only 23cm I measured it)
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The "letter box tester" is the final arbiter for a relatively good reason: it is the same height as the entry point on the address readers.

Anything more than that and it has to be treated as a small parcel, because it needs extra manual handling. I'm aware of this because my second to last IT contract was working on Royal Mail's postcode reader systems. They're actually quite reliable but oversized objects are a problem.
 
I do online postage as there is no point paying more.

Just trying to sort some now and the RM site isn't working properly as it keeps throwing up an error every time I try and buy it :rolleyes:
 
BillN_33 said:
Had a row with the guy at the PO the other day who charged my wife £3.80 for a small parcel, 2nd class non tracked ...... my wife took it up and I went back and complained - it was the size of a large letter but he said it was more than 25cm thick, (which it wasn't, it was only 23cm I measured it) .... he said that it would not go through his letter box thing.

Anyway I have now got a plastic PO thing that measures whatever and will start to pay on-line and download a label

Anybody use the on-line service?

(update - my wife as just taken a large letter to the PO - clearly £1.80 on line but the local Post Office wants £2.00)

The guy at the PO gets paid a wage for doing the job, the PO get £1.80 for the stamp .........why should we pay more for the guy printing a label off and sticking it on a letter ...RAND .... my wife think's I'm mad!!
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You understand that the "guy" at the po doesn't work for RM, right?
 
I often used to use online postage and drop off, as my local PO in Wellingborough frequently ripped us off charging for a postage level that was incorrect. Now though I usually go to the PO counter in the garage shop, as the people are nice, the shop convenient, and I don't begrudge them an extra few pence on the bottom line. However I do sometimes get annoyed at the f2f price for small parcels vs the online price, they can be quite different.
 
Both the online and in PO prices (as pdf files) are available here


As for the large letter classification....
In the past I have had the occasional Large Letter to post and though it fitted into the guage it would not pass through it because of a slight irregularity in max thickness of 2.5cm
Oh, and the weight will also affect the cost of such large letters.

AFAIK the guage is more to do with the sorting machines and nothing to do with anyone's "letter box" on residential houses.

As for personnel working for Post Office Counters (AFAIK a separate company to Royal Mail who handle the processing & deliveries. I too have experienced the very good service and poor service. IMO entirely down to, like any organisation, the individuals and the line manager being 'service orientated!

Not forgetting that IIRC most such PO's in a retail environment the employees are staff of the retail shop.
 
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Thanks everyone .......... even in my advancing years ..... you learn something everyday ...........


............ now how can I crack eBay with all the junk, sorry really good stuff, that I have amassed over the years
 
It's a shame they don't offer you the pick-up service. That's brilliant for me as I can't carry parcels more than a couple of kg - I'll just drop it. :rolleyes:

I just leave my parcels on my door step with a note and their reference number. They bring the label, attach it and take it away - they don't even knock the door. :love:
 
BillN_33 said:
Thanks everyone .......... even in my advancing years ..... you learn something everyday ...........


............ now how can I crack eBay with all the junk, sorry really good stuff, that I have amassed over the years
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It is different for eBay as they generate the labels not. Royal Mail. PO staff always complain when you give them a large letter labeled package but it is in fact a small parcels size. They have been instructed by Royal Mail to accept them though. I post Blu rays and Ebay always says large letters when some are thicker than 25mm.
 
Nikon f1.8 said:
It is different for eBay as they generate the labels not. Royal Mail. PO staff always complain when you give them a large letter labeled package but it is in fact a small parcels size. They have been instructed by Royal Mail to accept them though. I post Blu rays and Ebay always says large letters when some are thicker than 25mm.
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Thanks Paul................There was a time when you could put your own postage cost in, not that I have ever sold much on eBay
 
I buy my Royal Mail postage online and have been so doing for maybe five years: it's easier and quicker. I elect to drop off at my local half-a-mile away post office. I'm not waiting in for a service for which there is a two or three hour wait window.

I'm aware that somewhere in the Royal Mail "buy postage online" website (where I log in diligently) I know that somewhere there's a pricing structure effectively £X here, £X + N at the Post Office so I print my own labels at home.

I know that my kitchen scales weigh slightly heavy compared to my local post office' weighing machine so if I'm on the margin I can be confident of not hitting a sudden stop at the post office counter.

My local post office is a convenience store with a post office within. They have admitted to me in the past that what they get from Post Office for providing a service is really not financially attractive but it brings in customers for the convenience store side.

Here's a handy tip: dropping off parcels and worrying about your package being held "outside" the secure post office counter where some scrote could pick it up and waltz off? Insured postal items MUST be held behind the counter.

@BillN_33: I'm pretty sure you can specify your own postal cost in EBay: you have to scroll past whatever service EBay has pre-selected for you.
 
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BillN_33 said:
Can you get the QR code on to you phone and take that to the PO rather than print it off
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Yes, I took a photo of the QR code on my phone and took it in, worked fine.

Hmmm, realising that what's not so good about that particular transaction (2nd class small parcel) is that it never got to its destination. Next time I'll use tracked 48 which I think gives me slightly better protection!
 
JonathanRyan said:
You understand that the "guy" at the po doesn't work for RM, right?
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just looked at it Jonathan, seems complicated like everything nowadays in out "modern" Britain

Have any of the Post Office BoD been brought to account - especially the ordained Anglican priest CEO ....... what a disgrace they are/were/and still are
 
BillN_33 said:
just looked at it Jonathan, seems complicated like everything nowadays in out "modern" Britain
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They have always been separate - they used to both be part of the same group but got split into actually separate companies a decade or more ago :)
 
I tend not to use the post office for parcels. Find Evri to be quicker and more convenient (loads of local offlicences and late night stores you can drop your parcel off at, pick it up fromt)
 
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