Royal surcharge. who makes decision and how? *embarrassing*

[cloud360]

I sent a "large letter" stamped item and I am 100% sure the dimensions were fine because at the post office they checked it and it fit through the thing they use to tell if dimensions are correct.

However the person on other side who received it had to pay a surcharge for insufficient postage, their was a yellow revenue protection sticker on the mail. I think this was because the weight was above 100g or they just made a mistake, whatever the case I dont agree with it as I think the onus should be on post office to prevent any surcharge or insufficient postage. The post office representative never checked the weight on that occasion and he probably assumed its less than 100g.

However, I have sent many of the same items like this before all correct dimensions and weight, and never had issue till now so I think this was a mistake. I want to know:

1) who decides to put a surcharge. is it the people who sort the items, or a machine?

3) if it is a human, how do they decide if their is a surcharge. do they just randomly check a few items and do they accurately check the weight or dimensions? or they they just assume "this feels like its is above 100g, SURCHARGE " or "this looks like its outside dimensions, SURCHARGE !"

3) where do they decide to add surcharge and separate it from normal mail? is it at sorting office?

Because i totally disagree with this and feel embarrassed and wish to complain directly to person responsible, the people who received the item probably think i just stuck some stamps on without caring or that i planned on making them pay for postage :(

[cazspence]

Everything that is manually sorted and is suspected to be a surcharge is removed and given to revenue protection. There it is checked in size and weight to determine if it is a surcharge or not. If it is then it is stickers with the correct amount and forwarded back into the system. Your item was obviously over weight.

[cloud360]

Everything that is manually sorted and is suspected to be a surcharge is removed and given to revenue protection. There it is checked in size and weight to determine if it is a surcharge or not. If it is then it is stickers with the correct amount and forwarded back into the system. Your item was obviously over weight.

"Everything that is manually sorted" what is manually sorted. Are large letter items manually sorted?

[SpacePhoenix]

If it was sorted by a machine then the machine might have flagged it up. Anyone know if the TOPS2000 either measures and/or weighs every item that it sorts?

[cloud360]

If it was sorted by a machine then the machine might have flagged it up. Anyone know if the TOPS2000 either measures and/or weighs every item that it sorts?

so at which sorting office do you think they decided to surcharge. my sorting office or receivers?

p.s my item was put into one of those royal mail bags/yorks (i think they call it) with parcels and other items.

does post office have separate bag for small letters and separate ones for packets, large letter stamped items & parcels? as am thinking this could of happened because post office representative put it into wrong bag?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Surcharges are applied at the mail centre not the local sorting offices, the items are individually assessed by revenue protection, so even if it was placed in wrong bag that won't affect whether surcharge applied or not, to complain you need to contact customer services on 08457 740740 you can't contact revenue protection direct, items are checked both by hand and by machine, and then passed to revenue protection which then weigh and measure them accurately so if a charge has been applied in 99.999% cases is correct

[cloud360]

Surcharges are applied at the mail centre not the local sorting offices, the items are individually assessed by revenue protection, so even if it was placed in wrong bag that won't affect whether surcharge applied or not, to complain you need to contact customer services on 08457 740740 you can't contact revenue protection direct, items are checked both by hand and by machine, and then passed to revenue protection which then weigh and measure them accurately so if a charge has been applied in 99.999% cases is correct

thanks for response
q1) ok, but then i dont think its fair i should pay surcharge when the post office representative put wrong stamp or charge on it. dont royal mail have policy for situations like that?

q2) i am still confused about where surcharges are applied. are they applied at my mail centre or recievers mail centre?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Surcharges are applied at the mail centre not the local sorting offices, the items are individually assessed by revenue protection, so even if it was placed in wrong bag that won't affect whether surcharge applied or not, to complain you need to contact customer services on 08457 740740 you can't contact revenue protection direct, items are checked both by hand and by machine, and then passed to revenue protection which then weigh and measure them accurately so if a charge has been applied in 99.999% cases is correct

ok, but then i dont think its fair i should pay surcharge when the post office representative put wrong stamp or charge on it. dont royal mail have policy for situations like that?

If it's a stamp on the item there is no way to tell whether it was you or a post office who affixed the postage, hence it gets charged, if post office had put the big gold horizon label on it then it wouldn't have been charged, you will need to take up any complaint with the post office that affixed the postage as they are the ones who made mistake, they are supposed to weigh every item

[Lounge Lizard]

"If it's a stamp on the item there is no way to tell whether it was you or a post office who affixed the postage" isn't entirely accurate as if Post Office staff check it then this can be confirmed by them date-stamping the stamp(s) and it will then NOT be checked for possible surcharging, just as items with the gold Horizon labels will be most unlikely to be checked for possible surcharging.
Writing "Checked at Post office" on an envelope proves nothing as any sender can write that on before dropping it, over-weight/size or not, into any post box.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

"If it's a stamp on the item there is no way to tell whether it was you or a post office who affixed the postage" isn't entirely accurate as if Post Office staff check it then this can be confirmed by them date-stamping the stamp(s) and it will then NOT be checked for possible surcharging, just as items with the gold Horizon labels will be most unlikely to be checked for possible surcharging.
Writing "Checked at Post office" on an envelope proves nothing as any sender can write that on before dropping it, over-weight/size or not, into any post box.

The post office staff didn't check the item correctly in the post office so the chances of the cancelling the stamps is pretty low, and a lot of post offices don't cancel stamps now anyway, also when they do it can still end up getting surcharged anyway

[Lounge Lizard]

"If it's a stamp on the item there is no way to tell whether it was you or a post office who affixed the postage" isn't entirely accurate as if Post Office staff check it then this can be confirmed by them date-stamping the stamp(s) and it will then NOT be checked for possible surcharging, just as items with the gold Horizon labels will be most unlikely to be checked for possible surcharging.
Writing "Checked at Post office" on an envelope proves nothing as any sender can write that on before dropping it, over-weight/size or not, into any post box.

The post office staff didn't check the item correctly in the post office so the chances of the cancelling the stamps is pretty low, and a lot of post offices don't cancel stamps now anyway, also when they do it can still end up getting surcharged anyway

Yes, I'm well aware that routinely "a lot of post offices don't cancel stamps now anyway" but if they do it's extremely unlikely that "it can still end up getting surcharged anyway".
In future if you ask them to check the item also ask them to date-stamp the stamp(s) which will ensure, firstly, that they check it properly ( even if that means you pay the higher postage ) and, secondly, that Revenue Protection won't be interested in it.

[Snaggletooth]

I believe it varies depending on the type of branch, but in the Crowns we are not allowed to cancel the stamps on Letter or Large Letter sized items.

This matter should be taken up with Post Office customer care on 08457 22 33 44.

[Lounge Lizard]

I believe it varies depending on the type of branch, but in the Crowns we are not allowed to cancel the stamps on Letter or Large Letter sized items.

This matter should be taken up with Post Office customer care on 08457 22 33 44.

"not allowed" - but is that instruction from management or guidance from the union ?

[hungryboy22]

We send a lot of parcels through Royal Mail. Their machines now automatically make surcharges if the parcel is heavier or bigger than the maximums of the category that has been paid for. This can mean sometimes that the average for a batch goes over a limit and so there can be a high surcharge for the whole lot. Be aware that their machines make mistakes - so be sure to check these and follow them up with Royal Mail (whose initial response is of course to say it's our mistake).

[yellowbelly]

We send a lot of parcels through Royal Mail. Their machines now automatically make surcharges if the parcel is heavier or bigger than the maximums of the category that has been paid for. This can mean sometimes that the average for a batch goes over a limit and so there can be a high surcharge for the whole lot. Be aware that their machines make mistakes - so be sure to check these and follow them up with Royal Mail (whose initial response is of course to say it's our mistake).

But if a parcel or parcels are overweight for the maximum paid for whose mistake is it?

If RM receive a lot of parcels (don't know how many or how you pass them over) from you and a batch is 'overweight', how do RM know whether one
parcel is 200g overweight or ten parcels are 20g overweight? It's up to any sending customer to ensure what they're sending is accurately weighed/measured and paid for.