OBA

[bv]

Hello everyone
I hope you don't mind if I moan a little bit, well I must confess I am in the wrong. But I still have some grievance.
I post using OBA services. Our collection centre staff is very good, I mean whenever they call me,they are really very nice even when I might have done something wrong or to seek clarification.
Now the 2.5cm rule is the issue. My parcels are really boderline 2.5cm. They are cosmetics. Tiny parcels strictly speaking, a lot lesser than 100g as well. But sometimes it needs a bit of squeezing through
My parcels get through almost always, However oflate I have been receiving calls from the person in charge perhaps saying that they have held my parcel and they would be making me pay the difference.

I must say at this pointis that to pay £3.60 for tiny things worth a tenner, seems criminal and I wish someone speaks for us and increases the size a wee bit, perhaps a reasonable 40cms because we must be able to post a lipstick, mascara or eyeshadow without having to pay £3.60. Many of these packages become slightly bigger due to the packagingwe use, to protect ourselves and royal mail from claims of damage/crease and the rest of it. It hurts to pay £3.60 for tiny things. Many a time, the product is cheaperthan postage and this is no exaggeration. But that is by the way.

Now what nags me is that whilst people are doing their jobs and asking us to pay up is fine, the thing is we, royal mail customers, personal and business customers, don't seem to have a way of raising a similar concern against royal mail when we don't get signatures for our parcels. I pay for recorded delivery. Every three out of ten parcels don't get the signature. It is very anxious provoking because everyone is realising it and on amazon and ebay customers claim non receipt when they find that their tracking is not updated. But we don't have a system to put in a claim to claw our postage for using recorded delivery.

Am I right or wrong in believing that this is not fair, because if we had a system, we could also raise claims to claw back the difference of all the recorded delivery parcels. If I could get all that back, I wouldn't be so miserly when it comes to paying up for packet postage, even if they are tiny.

Thank you for your thoughts on this, in advance.

[Snaggletooth]

Regarding taking complaints about recorded further, I understand your frustration, and there is an escalation process for individuals (not entirely sure if this is correct for what you do):

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help- ... -complaint" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fishtank]

I think as far as your position regarding pricing and the affect this has on your low value sales margins, this is really just a question of viability of the business model.

Royal Mail is now a private company and as such has to price according to its own business model and if that has meant that some small e-tailers and eBay sellers have found that their business model is no longer viable in its present form that's unfortunate but purely market driven. If there was a market out there for delivering low cost, single items someone would fill it, the parcel delivery business is highly competitive.

It might sound harsh but it is true, Your business model has to be built around actual costs and potential revenue, not the other way around. You could try increasing your prices and see if your customer base will support it but many online retailers are now finding it difficult to sustain their business model without what was to be honest a handy subsidised state-owned delivery partner.

[bv]

Thank you all

I was worried if I would come under fire, I was anxious about coming and looking at the replies. But thank you for seeing my frustration.

I will put in a complaint about not receiving signatures, but I will word it very gently because I must look at everything with a bigger picture in mind as you say. I appreciate this idea about pricing postage to reflect the expenses we sellers face, the packaging and the postage. But can you believe if I say that on ebay and amazon we are penalised for postage? I pay 20% on amazon for postage! So it is not as if I even get all ofwhat I ask for from thecustomer. I wish I was big enough like retailers to handle bigwigs like amazon and Royal mail. I am not, I feel the pinch at every stage of each sale. But whilst none of this justfies my squeezing my parcels through 2.5cm and posting them, I think it is ok to ask for my signature that I pay for. If I got the signature, I would have also felt my money was justified.

Anyway I will use both the options both of you have advised. Thank you for looking at it from my point of view.

[Snaggletooth]

I know what you mean about eBay and Amazon taking a cut on the postage, which always seems pretty unfair to me, but those are problems with the selling sites and apply to all mail carriers, not just Royal Mail. On eBay you can set the P&P charge to whatever you like as long as you don't exceed a certain figure (8 pounds or thereabouts), I rounded up my fees in the past to recoup some of the seller fees.

[bv]

I know what you mean about eBay and Amazon taking a cut on the postage, which always seems pretty unfair to me, but those are problems with the selling sites and apply to all mail carriers, not just Royal Mail. On eBay you can set the P&P charge to whatever you like as long as you don't exceed a certain figure (8 pounds or thereabouts), I rounded up my fees in the past to recoup some of the seller fees.

Exactly, I will never understand what right they have to take charges from postage. I wouldn't mind them putting up minimum postage to be taken for each item but they cannot charge us for postage when they don't provide a service! I pay 20% to amazon! I must pay for packaging, I must pay postage, then ofcourse make a round trip to post. All of this costs and amazon does not provide the postal services, so I don't understand how they can justify pinching money from me. I know that I am barking up the wrong tree and expecting more from royal mail but that is because there is no point challenging amazon. They really take advantage of those who need the platform for their livelihood.