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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Jeannine on March 16, 2007, 21:23:40
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Hi, I got home today to find a regular size envelope on the mat which had a yellow sticker on from 'revenue protection' It said there was 5p paid short on the postage and there was a £1 handling charge which meant I owed them £1.05p.but they put it through the door anyway. Is my Postie being nice or did he not notice?
I am worried because all the envelope contained was 2 tiny bags with 4 seeds in each bag, noe excess packing etc.I have posted many more seeds than that in the same envelopes over the past month and I am very worried that someone has been charged for this.
I usually only put 2nd class stamps on unless I am in a big hurry as I resent chucking money away , and it often gets there in the same time, but this one had a 1st class stamp on.
What is going on here?
Has anyone else heard of this and please if yoy have had to pay postage on anything I have sent you I am so sorry.
What can we do to make sure it is OK, we can't take verything to the Post Office to be checked, so I feel very unsettled about this.
XX Jeannine
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No problems with the ones you very kindly sent me, Jeannine. :)
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surely it's this thing with the thickness of the letter they do now. With some of the seeds i've sent, it looks a completely normal letter, but when I ask the post office person to check it with the slot thing they have, lo and behold, it's too big and needs to be charged at a higher rate ??? They weren't beans by any chance??
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Not seeds from anyone here but yes, I have had post marked as underpaid. In the past, our regular postie would just deliver it anyway but now it's brought round on another round (presumably the special-delivery crew).
Fortunately I've been able to tell at a glance if the item is something I actually want (rather than brochures or what-have-you). And I've done the same on the occasions that I've had to go up to the sorting office because underpaid stuff's arrived when I've been out.
I just hate the £1 admin charge. It's desperately unfair to people receiving post. I now weigh all my post on the kitchen scales if it's anything more than a two-sheet letter and check its thickness for the new 'large letter' category: I have Royal Mail's charges printed out from their website tucked in with my stamps.
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No Jeannine, I wasn't charged any extra on the seeds you sent me and I had no yellow sticker on the envelope at all. They were bean seeds too Rhubhard thrasher, although I think you are right, it probably is the thickness thing but only when some jobsworth decides to check them in the sorting office! >:(
I remember my old nan once saying about a handbag that she had left behind at my aunties in the States, "Can't you email it to me, it will save the postage?" :-\
She did make us all laugh but thinking on it, wouldn't it be great! ;D ::)
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No they weren't beans, they were quite flat, but if the two bags slipped together in transit it would be thicker, so that makes it really daft .If the bags inside are side by side it starts off OK but if they move en route and double up it gets an overcharge, and if we bubble wrap to avoid that we pay the higher amount anyway. This is mad, how could we possibly know. I am taking mine to the post office to question it.XX Jeannine
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Is it possible the seeds moved inside the envelope and bunched up so that it appeared thicker when it went through whatever machine checks the correct postage?
As an aside to this we had the same problem a couple of times at christmas with home made cards. It was a real shame when people have gone to such trouble to make cards then they are received with stickers like that on. :(
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Funny you should mention this I've got a card through my door yesterday to go and collect an a letter from the sorting office for unpaid postage. Can't really think what it is as they have my surname as I don't use it on here (i don't think), and they spelt it wrong. Might not be for me after all anyway haha.
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Jeannine, this is exactly what happened to me and a swappee this week. It would appear that we both had both underpaid. I was charged the £1 handling fee and although she hasn't come back to me yet, I guess swappee was charged the same.
I've even got one of those fake letterbox thingies for seeing if letters/packages will fit through the slot, so I'm extra annoyed that my free seeds ending up costing my "mate" extra.
My nice postie put mine through the door anyway (so I'm guessing he doesn't want the payment) but swappee had to go to her local sorting office and collect. :-[
It seems curious that it's happened to at least 4 of us within one week. Obviously they're cracking down.
I'll definitely be more careful in future when I'm sending stuff out.
:(
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They started getting firmer on "underpaid" postage when the new top guy came in. It was the same time that they got rid of the "second delivery". In fact, round here they got rid of the first delivery - post comes any time between 11am and 2pm now.
The things with envelope size is rediculous. As is often done when companies make such changes, we were promised it's "revenue neutral". So, why do it then?
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Hi All
The extra 5p will be because under the new size pricing that royal mail is using any envelope over 5mm thick is charged at the next price up than a standard letter.
Gordon
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But I keep saying, the one I got was not too thick,it would have gone through the thingy,if the seeds moved in transit then the system is unfair,If an envelope is checked at the post office an it goes through and then it gets bent or something shifts in transit surely if the sender paid the right amount at the post office in the beginning they can't be penalised later.If this happens again I shall demand proof of postage every time I send a letter , it has who it is going too on and is stamped at the post office who would check the postage is right,what would they do then if that same envelope was asked to pay more.
I think this is a crazy situation. I sent two parcels recently that were cheaper to send first class then second class because of their size.
I think the post office are going to be overwhelmed with people wanting to be sure about the letters instead of just putting a stamp on.
XX Jeannine
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I've been sending out quite a few seeds & my P.O. check the bulk of the mail with one of those high-tech metal slottie things....some with 2-3 packets in them have failed the test & I've had to stamp at the next higher price, and this is only because the pkts have bunched together, not the weight.
So....I've started using envelopes big enough to take the seeds side-by-side - and sellotaping them to a sheet of paper. As long as the sellotape keeps its stick, nothing's gonna move 'em 8)
Reckon this is my Top Money Saving Tip of this year ..... what a bloomin state of affairs. >:(
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< gets on soapbox >
when all this "envelope size " hooplah started we were told (on tv) that we'd soon get a letter about it. Did we? Did we heck!
It's another method of leeching money from us, the next thing they'll do is start charging for anything not written in black ink or biro (gel pens will be a no-no), not written in careful capital letters and not written within an exactly measured space in an exact location on the envelope. And then they'll bring in a minimal font size..
< / gets off soapbox >
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I asked the bloke at post office what he thought about it and he said its bloody stupid cos people are not sure so take all thickish envelopes to be done one at a time to make sure.
So now I put loads of folded A4 sheets in envelope and put in plastic bag and place on driveway and park car on it over night and post in the morning when its well and truely flattened..... ::)
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Maybe we should shrink wrap evrything. Or better still we should all send an oversizes envelope to the head of Royal Mail, as you can see I am annoyed about this .Jeannine XX
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Jeannine, is that a tiger cub you're holding in your photo. :)
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Yes, I wondered when someone would notice my unusual big cat !! JeannineXX
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All us 'oldies' around here have been campaigning like mad for years to save our little, local post office - and the jobs of the lovely Indian gentleman and his family who run it . With all this new size/thickness twaddle, he is so stressed out with all the complaints/queries - he's thinking of chucking it all in! Maybe this is the government's way of getting sub-post offices closed - they've been trying for long enough!
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I am so tired of having to weigh and measure simple post like birthday cards ect ::)
We sent MILs mothers day card the other day, and measured it and it was just over a cm longer than is allowed for first class post and as i was on the last minute i had to stick two first class stamps on it, as thats all i had ,just to make sure she got it the next day >:( (which she did)
My sons Mothers day card that he posted to me on Friday has not arrived so i can only assume hes not thought to measure the card, well why would he? Hes surely got more important things on his mind?
Ive been charged many times for underpaid postage, but its not only the extra cost that is infuriating, but the time consuming trip into the next town to collect the post from the sorting office :(
Surely this system cant carry on?
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It is mad, John took three letters to the post office yesterday to make sure,one was a bit tight the lady said , so John offered to put more on it as he didn't want a problem for anyone and she was quite rude back to him
What on earth are they going to do if everyone takes every letter to be checked!!
XX Jeannine
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I just came home today and found a card to say there was an underpaid letter for my son at the sorting office with £1-23 to pay. So this means the fine is £1? He doesn't know what it is he's not expecting anything. The sender may well get some underpaid post from me. The last time I got some under paid post it was to my son from the royal mail's stamp club....they sent him a birthday card and forgot a stamp to top it off they were 2 months late!
In compensation when I complained they sent some little cards with pictures of stamps on them!