Royal Mail - New Pricing Structure

cdd · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 10.21

So from Aug. 28, the Royal Mail will no longer be assessing prices just on weight, but will also charge according to size.

Basically there will be three sizes - Letter (half an A4 sheet in size, <5mm in thickness), Large Letter (for letters between 5 and 25mm in thickness, or between half an a4 sheet and one full a4 sheet) and Packet (for anything above). Each category will have their own stamps.

I know the post office is in financial difficulty but I think we all would have preferred to see a few pence added to a stamp if necessary rather than this complicated system. What I especially dislike is the 5mm thickness limit for letters - it's far too easy to go above (If you send lots of paper that would easily go above 5mm, and the cheap sending of CDs are now a thing of the past meaning delivery charges on sites like Amazon and eBay will skyrocket!)

Aside from that, the system is too complicated for the average person to work out. The Royal Mail will have lots and lots of undelivered mai due to the pricing being all wrong.

What do you think about the new pricing structure?

Sput · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 10.24

I think it's only worth posting a reply to in order to berate the thread author for bringing up such a dull subject!

Pete · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 10.43

plus it should be rather easy if you take your letters to the post office to get a stamp as the fuddy duddy old dears do and they're normally the most gormless.

There are large perspex things that allow you to measure the size (against pictures) and the width (by sticking it in a slot) of your letters.

And as for the stamps. We at WHS now have two books we can sell.

1st class or 1st class large (and 2nd obv) which isn't too hard. The third category (parcel) is one that's always existed anyhow.

Although back when it was first proposed a few years back, the people who used to send out film processing envelopes to everyone said it would put them out of business. How kind of Royal Mail to wait for digital to do it for them.

Nick Harvey · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 12.31

cdd wrote:So from Aug. 28,

I hate to be an all-knowing, dull, technical pedant, but the new pricing structure starts on Monday the 21st of August, to be precise.

Jenny · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 13.04

I think sending CDs is actually going to work out cheaper, since the 0-100g rate for "large letters" is less than the old standard 60-100g rate. The kicker is the parcel rate which is going up quite steeply, so oversize books, LPs and bulky items will be more expensive.

Skytower · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 13.33

The sooner Royal Mail lose their monopoly on the postal service, the better.

Nick Harvey · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 13.41

Jenny wrote:sending CDs is actually going to work out cheaper
.................
LPs and bulky items will be more expensive.

Sounds like I could make a bomb doing LP to WAV to CD conversions!

That's what I tend to do if I want to listen to a particular old LP in the car.

nidave · Sat 12 Aug, 2006 18.09

Skytower wrote:The sooner Royal Mail lose their monopoly on the postal service, the better.

Royal mail have got sompetition, anyone can enter the market. Obvously everyone is going after business customers and there are no alternitave for domestic mail at the moment. I doubt there ever will be!