Royal Mail Rip Off Con Trick

[rum]

It's all part of the unions vs. corporations argument.... IMHO the likes of RM and say the Tube in London could do with an overhaul of staff. Stupid inefficiencies and spiralling prices mean both cannot be financially sustainable should they become private companies.

The Tube has been privatised for a while now, but it's still too common to hear that a train is cancelled "due to a shortage of staff" (read "the driver couldn't be jacked to turn up for work today"). Same thing with the RoyalMail, only it isn't privatised yet.

When will this country learn????

 

[Ken T M]

Based on my vast experience of working with RM over a couple or three Xmases, I can say without fear of telling a lie that RM is stuffed to the gunwales with idle and incompetent management and staff and nothing short of privatisation will save it. I have to say also that keeping the same management and staff - as with the BR privatisation - will achieve nothing except prolong the chaos.

I think it is somewhat unfair that BR and RM were chosen when the entire Civil Service needs a similar shake up if ever it is to stop wasting our Tax Pounds - but that's life and thhe CCivil Service will protect itself endlessly - the primary function of a bureaucracy.

Long live efficiency!!! But can privatisation achieve it where State Ownership could not?

Sheesh! the stories I could tell!!

I don't know... it's going to be profit-driven. Which means less value for money.

It might be inefficient and cost the taxpayer more money than it ought, but the service standard is acceptable in my experience, which as support sector service is all it needs to be for non-business users, and crucially, until the recent uplifts, it was ridiculously cheap.

I've PIF'ed more things than I can remember at a cost of no more than a few quid each over the last few years. However, with prices going through the roof and set to continue in the same vein after privatisation, I've only PIF'ed one razor in the last 6 months, and probably won't be doing any more soon.

Seriously, for users of this forum, this is a terrible, terrible bit of news. C2C services are going to be marginalised in favour of B2B (and to alesser extent B2C).

 

[RockShaving]

I had this experience yesterday. I ordered a shirt online it was sent to me second class to be signed for clear price on "stamp sticker" £2.60. It did not fit wife and I repack the short exactly as it was sent in the same packet. Cost to post £3.70. Now this has to be wrong. Any suggestions? To be clear the shirt was folded as it arrived put back into the same packet and taken to the post office, the question is where has the extra £1.10 come from. The post office must think we are all mugs.

Unless it was maybe sent franked. It could not have been sent signed for for £2.60.

£3.70 is the cheapest price for a signed for small packet.

£2.60 is the cheapest price for a small packet.

It all depends on your deal with Royal Mail. As an example we pay 12p per Standard 1st Class Letter. We do our own Mail Sorting before they hit Royal Mail though which does reduce the cost.

Different prices for different customers.

Indeed, but the postage price is not displayed on the label.

 

[Louis]

Article on the postal situation in Holland, which may be the way UK postal service might be going:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n09/james-meek/in-the-sorting-office

Can any of our Dutch members comment on this?

 

[Big Bob]

I had this experience yesterday. I ordered a shirt online it was sent to me second class to be signed for clear price on "stamp sticker" £2.60. It did not fit wife and I repack the short exactly as it was sent in the same packet. Cost to post £3.70. Now this has to be wrong. Any suggestions? To be clear the shirt was folded as it arrived put back into the same packet and taken to the post office, the question is where has the extra £1.10 come from. The post office must think we are all mugs.

Unless it was maybe sent franked. It could not have been sent signed for for £2.60.

£3.70 is the cheapest price for a signed for small packet.

£2.60 is the cheapest price for a small packet.

It all depends on your deal with Royal Mail. As an example we pay 12p per Standard 1st Class Letter. We do our own Mail Sorting before they hit Royal Mail though which does reduce the cost.

Different prices for different customers.

Indeed, but the postage price is not displayed on the label.

So lets look at this from my point of view. The gold coloured "Stamp" was printed £2.60 and I had to sign for the parcel. There is no disputing that part of the sorry tale. Now if it was a gold "Stamp" It was issued at a Post Office not on line or anything else. I paid £3.70 to return the same item in the same packaging. Do we assume that the issuing PO said "You can get the Signed for bit free?" I don't think so. So someone please explain. Like most on her £1.10 is not the issue it's the whole principle. In recent experiences I have observed that most PO counter staff can't carry out a simple transaction without referring to someone more senior on the counter. Lack of TRAINING seems too obvious to me, perhaps there is something under the surface that Joe public is not privy too, it has to be more than just the privatisation issue.

 

[Ken T M]

Article on the postal situation in Holland, which may be the way UK postal service might be going:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n09/james-meek/in-the-sorting-office

Can any of our Dutch members comment on this?

Fantastic. fantastic article. Thank you for that.

 

[trainman]

"due to a shortage of staff" (read "the driver couldn't be jacked to turn up for work today").

A bit harsh,i'm a Train driver,albeit not on the tube,and up until earlier this year, when i had to have surgery, i hadn't lost a day to sickness in nearly five years.
Not all rail workers are lazy good for nothing's.

 

[rum]

"due to a shortage of staff" (read "the driver couldn't be jacked to turn up for work today").

A bit harsh,i'm a Train driver,albeit not on the tube,and up until earlier this year, when i had to have surgery, i hadn't lost a day to sickness in nearly five years.
Not all rail workers are lazy good for nothing's.

Might be harsh but I stand by my comments. They reflect my experience 100% on the Tube (not the trains as such) and it truly has been a painful experience. If I don't turn up to work I'll be out of the door within two weeks, so it's not really fair.

 

[FrankieG]

Article on the postal situation in Holland, which may be the way UK postal service might be going:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n09/james-meek/in-the-sorting-office

Can any of our Dutch members comment on this?

That's not an article, that's a book Interesting read though

 

[Al H]

Article on the postal situation in Holland, which may be the way UK postal service might be going:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n09/james-meek/in-the-sorting-office

Can any of our Dutch members comment on this?

mertje, track this woman down, she has your razor

 

[Neep]

Recorded delivery (Signed for) Small Packet Prices:
WAS:
UK £3.00
EU £7.00
USA £9.00

NOW:
UK £4.10
EU £8.80
USA £9.90

THEY HAVE JUST SNEAKED IN ANOTHER INCREASE

Prices paid today:
USA £10.10 International signed for up to 250g
USA £12.60 International signed for up to 500g

Sending signed for is important, especially on Ebay/Paypal sales where you MUST have proof of sending to cover yourself.

 

[mattyb240]

Just a question, with the new restrictions if you say your package doesn't contain a restricted item (truthfully) can they still insist on asking what it is? I had a rather rude post office person insisting I tell them the contents of the package despite me reading the list.

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

Sent a razor to the USA today £12.50 airsure tracked and signed for insured up to £250, delivery time 4 days.

Jamie

---

Just a question, with the new restrictions if you say your package doesn't contain a restricted item (truthfully) can they still insist on asking what it is? I had a rather rude post office person insisting I tell them the contents of the package despite me reading the list.

They cannot turn down a razor as long as you have packed the item correctly, as this is a utility item and not classed as a weapon, but some of the post office staff don't know their own rules and will try it on they haven't got a clue what they are talking about most of the time.

Jamie

 

[globalm]

Just a question, with the new restrictions if you say your package doesn't contain a restricted item (truthfully) can they still insist on asking what it is? I had a rather rude post office person insisting I tell them the contents of the package despite me reading the list.

Hi

I currently have this under investigation!

I was told by a PO clerk that if I refused to say what was in the package then it would not be accepted. I called the PO helpline and after much to-ing and fro-ing was told that if I stated that I had read and understood the regulations and that the contents were not prohibited then it should be accepted. Armed with this information, I attempted to post another package and was shown the written instructions to clerks which say they should refuse to accept if I refuse to reveal the contents. I summoned the supervisor and explained what the helpline were saying. She concluded that, given the wording of the instruction, she would tell her staff to accept a packet where the customer stated that they had read the regulations and afffirmed that the contents were not prohibited. My packet was then accepted without revelation of content. This all took the best part of 20 minutes!

Conclusion - counter staff have ambiguous instructions which are being applied with varying degrees of rigorousness.

I am now pursuing this in writing with the PO and the PO USers' Council.

I have VERY strong views on privacy!

 

[rum]

When reading posts like this I get very agitated. We can't afford to have such a poor level of service for the post office in this day and age. There are other countries that make our post office look like a Punch and Judy show. We are not very competitive and as such this is indirectly costing our economy...

 

[octopus]

To make it worse CollectPlus and My Hermes also increased their prices in June. It's all a rip-off