royal mail revenue protection surcharges in christmas

[cloud360]

I have been getting some surcharges on some of my mail that I have never ever got before.

during Christmas it seems like royal mail revenue protection add surcharges to mail more often than not.

because i swear before Christmas period i got NO surcharges. so my question is:

is it the case that during Christmas period (nov/dec) revenue protection just check more mail and surcharge more? because am wondering what they were doing before and why i never got surcharges before november and why i get them now

[CT10]

If it's bigger than the standard size and thus has incorrect postage when sorting then it goes straight into the surcharge box. Maybe, we check it more at Chirstmas. But it should be the same all year round. :)

[cloud360]

If it's bigger than the standard size and thus has incorrect postage when sorting then it goes straight into the surcharge box. Maybe, we check it more at Chirstmas. But it should be the same all year round. :)

yes it should be same all round which i dont understand.

also are the packets and parcels manually checked for insufficient postage or is it a machine that checks at the mailing centre?

[Sidley]

I would imagine that most parcels have the correct postage paid as they are weighed at the post office.( I know there are exceptions). Many people still haven't quite got their heads around the fact that a first class stamp doesn't cover everything that fits in an envelope and the amount of people posting cards at this time is enormous (some for the first time since last Xmas) That you have received a few grey cards for insufficient postage is really not surprising, in view of this.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

also most of the big card companies print on the back of xmas cards what size of stamp is needed

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

is it the case that during Christmas period (nov/dec) revenue protection just check more mail and surcharge more? because am wondering what they were doing before and why i never got surcharges before november and why i get them now

yes more items are checked at this time of year but that is because there is a vast increase in the number of under paid items at this time of year also, for example our office in a normal summer week will get between 20 - 30 items surcharged, but at this time of year you get 40-50 per DAY nearly 6 times as much

the rest of the year the majority of mail is business mail and as such generally paid correctly, where as at xmas its stamped mail from customers which is not as accurately paid for by customers

[TeeferTiger]

I found that items are checked LESS at Xmas because of the volume of mail. But because of said increase, more will be surcharged.

If people put the correct postage on, it wouldn't be an issue at any time of the year