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  1. #1
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    Royal Mail/ Post Office overcharging

    I send a regular mail out of printed t-shirt samples via Royal Mail, either as a proof requested by customers or as an unsolicited promo item. These have always been sent by Royal Mail as a 'large letter'. The sizes (305x220x13mm) are well within the large letter- dimensions and the package weighs around 155 grams. I use a poly postal bag. At current prices these should be £2.05, first class. Last week my wife was charged £4.45 each for four items as a small parcel at the same local Post Office we always use.

    When she challenged the guy behind the jump - thinking he hadn't looked cloesly at the size - she was told that anything other than a letter was to be charged at small parcel rate. He refused to send it as a letter. When asked if this was a new policy he would only say that 'a letter is a letter and a parcel is a parcel'.
    My wife took the packages to the main Post Office in the town centre and the same happened. This time when she challenged the price the assistant made a show of putting the parcel through the size guide (even though it was very visibly well within the required sizes) and reluctantly agreed to charge as a large letter, muttering that it wasn't realy a letter. The price difference on the four items was £9.60.
    Looking back through some old receipts this has been happening since the last round of price rises.

    Has anyone else had similar issues and is this new policy? Or is it just a rogue local post master being opportunistic?

    I contacted both Royal Mail and Post Office customer services. Royal Mail are passing the buck, saying that they are nothing to do with the Post Office they enclosed a link to their pricing and sizing policy. This contains nothing that says only 'letters' can be sent as large letters.

    The Post Office have as yet not replied.

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  2. #2
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    Get an RM account and bypass the Post Office

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    Quote Originally Posted by pisquee View Post
    Get an RM account and bypass the Post Office
    I am thinking of doing that. The only thing that has stopped me is that I only send out a handful of smaller packages a week - the rest is larger and goes with DPD.
    It is a shame. The PO is on my journey home with parking outside the door, so it has always been easier to walk in and pay over the counter than entering everything online.

    The problem only started recently, so I need to get to the bottom of the reasons why this is happening.

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    This just made me check my drop and go account, I do the same. Its a single t-shirt in a bag but i post as 2nd class £1.65 each. I use 2 local post offices and use drop and go, and i have no problems with any. They are still processing them as a large letter.
    . . . . . . . . . . .

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    pw66 (04-05-2022)

  6. #5
    Member thecartoonman's Avatar
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    The guy was plainly wrong, as a quick visit to the RM web site would have told him, where Large Letter prices are clearly described and the size requirements, maybe they should rename them 'Mini Parcels' or something similar.

    The problem I find, is that these local 'Post Offices' (rather than the bigger branches you find in many large towns/cities), are independent businesses and I think a number of them are playing on the customers naivety to 'upsell' them products and so increase their profit, after all, we are across prices/sizes because we deal with them all the time, many people have no idea on current prices, or the different size requirements.

    In October 2020 I went to post 2 items to the USA, 1 was a Tracked LL and the other was to be sent as a Small Parcel Tracked. The guy said I could not send it LL it had to be a small parcel and the other one had to go Tracked & Signed, I said he was wrong, but he would not budge and I had spent a damp 40 minutes in the queue outside as Covid restrictions were very much in force. I took the items away, signed up to Click & Drop and purchased the postage I wanted from there and the next day went to our local RM Sorting Office (no wait), where they were both accepted without issue and off they went to the USA.

    I used to go to the local post office almost every day and purchased LL stamps, sent parcels et al, I have NEVER been back and they lost all my business as it is now just too easy to import the orders from various sales channels into Click & Drop, print the labels and then drop LL items in the local post box and larger items at the sorting office, no waiting in lines and so much easier.

    The guy did me a favour and I have no doubt we was trying to overcharge for the items I was sending, so you are right to have that in the back of your mind with your local PO.

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    pw66 (06-05-2022)

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    As far as I understand it the local postmaster in the smaller branches is likely to be a franchisee and will benfit from turnover. It is to their advantage to charge as much as they can get away with, and it is relatively easy for them to pass off overcharging as a simple mistake (IF the customer knows enought to make a challenge).

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    Senior Member Mrteajunkie's Avatar
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    I use click and drop and our local post office won’t take them.
    he says it’s got to be dropped off at a sorting office.

    When I asked him to just drop them in the mail bag as it’s all paid for he refused so I had a few blunt words and haven’t been back since.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrteajunkie View Post
    I use click and drop and our local post office won’t take them.
    he says it’s got to be dropped off at a sorting office.

    When I asked him to just drop them in the mail bag as it’s all paid for he refused so I had a few blunt words and haven’t been back since.
    They are slowly talking themselves out of a job.
    My local office has just started closing at 4pm, which is a pain.

  11. #9
    Senior Member Mrteajunkie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pw66 View Post
    They are slowly talking themselves out of a job.
    My local office has just started closing at 4pm, which is a pain.
    Ours closes at 2pm everyday! They safe it’s due to staff shortages but there’s only two that work there anyway always has been.

    they are just lazy fat gits.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mrteajunkie View Post
    I use click and drop and our local post office won’t take them.
    he says it’s got to be dropped off at a sorting office.

    When I asked him to just drop them in the mail bag as it’s all paid for he refused so I had a few blunt words and haven’t been back since.
    I reported them to the head postmaster type person and got a message that retraining will take place.... next time I went in the postmaster had been given a few words and it seems a few other changes had taken place (like new scales that seemed to weigh items closer to my certified scales at home)

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