I guess this is a post to “warn” any UK readers I have, about postage! I hope that any readers not in the UK will chuckle at how daft this situation is!!
I went to the post office a couple days ago to post a “small parcel” to Australia. The night before I had been on the Royal Mail website, mainly to make sure I was within the size and weight limits for that category – turns out I was well inside. £19:35*.
I joined the line at the post office, did my letter, then a small UK parcel then the Australian one £24:85*! Not wishing to upset the lady serving me, I politely enquired why it was that much. Apparently Royal Mail charges MORE over the counter and the web offering is completely different, by which I think she meant much better value and not a rip off!
So, if dear reader, you have a parcel to send, go onto the Royal Mail website, have them come to your house to collect it, print the label for you, and take the parcel away, you’ll save £5:50* over taking it to the post office in person. Madness!!
What’s even more stupid, is that you can do that online and still take it to the same post office with the label on, they’ll accept it and give you a receipt of posting!! So if you have any parcels to send for Christmas, films to the lab, cameras for repair etc, my suggestion is buy the postage online, even if you take it to the office!!
I may have just made my last visit to a post office!!
*The prices quoted were for my parcel 576gm small parcel to Australia, tracked but not signed for.
S.H.O.U.T. 
It’s much the same in the US. I don’t get it either.
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Hi Jim! It’s madness, completely the wrong way around!! It’s like us getting better discounts for buying less film!!! 🙂 Cheers Andy
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yep, I have had the same experience, too. I sold a lot of stuff on eBay and carefully weighed and measured everything before getting the prices off the website. When I got to the post office, the prolices were much higher, leaving me a few ££ out of pocket on each sale. 😡
it isn’t just Royal mail, Evri seem to manage to charge double over the counter for what they promise on the website – although in their case I think it is misleading i fo on the website- as they don’t make it clear that the prices go up quickly as the weight increases…. They give the impression any parcel in a particular category is the same price.
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Hello! I’m sure it’s all laid out clearly somewhere – somewhere we don’t normally look! From now on I’ll be buying the postage online, printing the label and just dropping it off at the office! I gave up selling on ebay a good couple of years ago – far too much agro for me, although I do buy the odd thing 🙂 Evri would be many steps too far for my patience lol Cheers Andy
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I printed a Royal Mail label on eBay once, choosing the correct service (1st Class up to 500g or something) but, foolishly assumed that this would cover anything within the size and weight constraints, I didn’t put the actual weight into the system. When I got to the post office they wouldn’t accept it as, despite having paid the price for up-to-500g postage, the system had defaulted to printing a weight of 1 gram on the label. 😦 Luckily I got a refund, but I still had all the faffing around.
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Hi! It’s almost like they don’t want us to use their services! So much faffing about. I’m reasonably savvy (I think) I pity someone who isn’t, it’s tantamount to ripping someone off in my book – whatever the small print says! I’m thinking I’ll do electronic Christmas cards this year!! lol – Cheers Andy
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