The Great Christmas Stamp Givaway....

[pj2001]

Royal Mail must lose a fortune in unfranked stamps being reused. I start off putting a Biro line through unfranked stamps but there are so many I give up and post them unfranked!

[Decky Boy]

I agree pj, but only if members of the public peel them off and re-use them. I see thousands of uncancelled stamps every year in the local mail centre and again whilst out on delivery. I try to cancel most either on prep or as I walk around my jdelivery but if it's snowing or raining or if it's a particularly heavy day (which it usually is over the Christmas Pressure period ) then often it's just not possible.

Standard stamps have security features built in which are designed to prevent fraud... the Christmas stamps do not. However a recent post on here shows hundreds of standard (used) stamps for resale on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... &_from=R40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The reuse of stamps must be costing the business hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.... maybe more ? And as someone who took the option to purchase shares in the business, over and above the free allocation, I'm not overly happy. The apathy on the part of many collegues and the compleat lack of urgency from any manager to have these stamps obliterated is quite frankly breathtaking....

[arnold cheshire]

Royal Mail must lose a fortune in unfranked stamps being reused. I start off putting a Biro line through unfranked stamps but there are so many I give up and post them unfranked!

have you noticed how all the stamps from abroad are all franked?

[paulp]

if they not cancelled i take it they not booked so figures wont be correct for mail posted

[masterblaster]

What idiot pulls stamps off? Why not use a label over the old address - I expect management think delivery staff should cancel stamps, after all we been sorting 100% of Christmas cards, sequence rate on other letters is about 50%, (what happened to those wonderful machines that were meant to be the way forward -1 step forward 3 back)!

[bluealbert]

I used to mention this 26 years ago when I started and I can't believe its not getting any better, Royal Mail admitted they were losing around £1 million a year about 10 years ago,this company is a joke nothing done about it

[enskied]

I agree pj, but only if members of the public peel them off and re-use them. I see thousands of uncancelled stamps every year in the local mail centre and again whilst out on delivery. I try to cancel most either on prep or as I walk around my jdelivery but if it's snowing or raining or if it's a particularly heavy day (which it usually is over the Christmas Pressure period ) then often it's just not possible.

Standard stamps have security features built in which are designed to prevent fraud... the Christmas stamps do not. However a recent post on here shows hundreds of standard (used) stamps for resale on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... &_from=R40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The reuse of stamps must be costing the business hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.... maybe more ? And as someone who took the option to purchase shares in the business, over and above the free allocation, I'm not overly happy. The apathy on the part of many collegues and the compleat lack of urgency from any manager to have these stamps obliterated is quite frankly breathtaking....

You dont have to peel them off.... Simply place a sticky label over the original address and reuse. When I was a manager (sorry ) of a large retail dept I hardly ever had to pay postage. I would receive parcels on a daily basis that were unfranked up to the value of £30 or more.. There was no way I was not going to reuse that box.

[secluder]

And as someone who took the option to purchase shares in the business, over and above the free allocation, I'm not overly happy. The apathy on the part of many collegues and the compleat lack of urgency from any manager to have these stamps obliterated is quite frankly breathtaking....

Yep, imagine poor old granny with few pennies to spare 'actually' reusing a stamp. The shock horror of it all!! Come to think of it there may be more than a few grannies doing it...And grandads for that matter!!

This multimillion pound business we call Royal Mail may lay in ruins if this isn't addressed ASAP.

[Dorset Plodder]

Don't get me started on Unfranked mail.......... Too late you have! The way I look at it secluder is: I don't work for free, and that's basically what you're doing if you can't be arsed to strike through unfranked stamps. Don't really believe it's the odd granny. With the increase in E-bay there's tons of parcels being sent backwards and forwards. I regularly endorse £25 plus parcels that haven't been franked.

The "Anti-Tamper" stamps are crap. "You can't resuse them, the panels peel off", said our Manager. I demonstrated on a letter that they dont! I'm surprised that the point wasn't highlighted in out 12 Golden Rules for Christmas bulletin, it must cost hundreds of thousands! You have a least three opportunities to endorse these stamps in the DO. 1) on IPS 2) as you're throwing off and 3) on your doorstep check.

Perhaps RM don't give a s**t how many times you're walking up and down those long drives with stamps that have been reused several times...... Perhaps they're happy because they've got the customers money... However the way I see it....DON'T WORK FOR FREE

[wacko74]

And as someone who took the option to purchase shares in the business, over and above the free allocation, I'm not overly happy. The apathy on the part of many collegues and the compleat lack of urgency from any manager to have these stamps obliterated is quite frankly breathtaking....

Yep, imagine poor old granny with few pennies to spare 'actually' reusing a stamp. The shock horror of it all!! Come to think of it there may be more than a few grannies doing it...And grandads for that matter!!

This multimillion pound business we call Royal Mail may lay in ruins if this isn't addressed ASAP.

Poor old granny doesn't seem to be doing too bad for herself given the thousands of used, unfranked stamps that she's selling on ebay

[Chitchat]

I cancelled over 400 stamps on thursday alone, thats like £200 worth of stamps. ive seen so many obvisously reused stamps this year. They just cut round and stick them on a new envelope. As the stamp price rises reusing stamps will rise. RM needs to cancel all stamps properly.

[bluealbert]

I cancelled over 400 stamps on thursday alone, thats like £200 worth of stamps. ive seen so many obvisously reused stamps this year. They just cut round and stick them on a new envelope. As the stamp price rises reusing stamps will rise. RM needs to cancel all stamps properly.

Mate, I've been saying this for 26 years, Fook all done about it

[Dorset Plodder]

Twincamms "Delivery Officers just chuck everything into their frames cause they're pressured to get out of the door. Do you think they have time to cancel stamps, extract unpaid BRs or bring the attention of uncharged return packets to the BR/Revenue Protection guys?""

I agree that we're all pushed for time, however we need to move away from the idea that extra work needs to be "Squeezed" into the allocated "Delivery Time" that we've become used to. All work, be it IPS, Prepping Households, Prepping Duties (including all those "Administration" tasks such as cancelling stamps, redirections, killing deads, delivering mis-sorts), Lapsing is all Royal Mail's work.

If it takes you 4 hours to complete all these you've only got the remainder of your Duty (less Meal Relief) to actually Deliver the Mail. It's not your fault that there's not enough hours in the Duty to do it all....It's the Managements. We all fall for the trick of being expected to squeeze a quart into a pint pot. Everyone rushes around (and I blame the Old & Bold Posties for leading the charge, they've been doing it so long it's ingrained) trying to get out of the door at the same time as always. Just so they can finish at the same old time as always!

Do all of Royal Mails work as they ask and when you're ready to Bag Up tell the manager, "I've only got 2 hours Duty left, whose going to deliver the other 3 hours worth of mail"!

[secluder]

And as someone who took the option to purchase shares in the business, over and above the free allocation, I'm not overly happy. The apathy on the part of many collegues and the compleat lack of urgency from any manager to have these stamps obliterated is quite frankly breathtaking....

Yep, imagine poor old granny with few pennies to spare 'actually' reusing a stamp. The shock horror of it all!! Come to think of it there may be more than a few grannies doing it...And grandads for that matter!!

This multimillion pound business we call Royal Mail may lay in ruins if this isn't addressed ASAP.

Poor old granny doesn't seem to be doing too bad for herself given the thousands of used, unfranked stamps that she's selling on ebay

If anyone should benefit from Royal Mail failure it should be the general public. There would be no positive outcome for any Royal Mail staff if the great stamp debacle was addressed and rectified. The extra profit would simply be passed along the bonus route with managers and executives getting the large majority and the donkeys thrown a few carrots.

The same mindset that finds it difficult to live with this oversight would have no bother taking a £20 tip or a bottle of wine from granny, yet the thought of some stamps making it under the fence has them up in arms! Sounds like the same guys in the office that refer to the job as 'The Business' in general conversation without a manager in sight!

I wonder how much the public gives us yearly in 'good will gestures''? One thing is for sure, they appreciate us a lot more than the entity which employs us, so I would personally advise a slight priority revision when it comes to worrying about a few crumbs falling from the plate...

[Dorset Plodder]

If anyone should benefit from Royal Mail failure it should be the general public. There would be no positive outcome for any Royal Mail staff if the great stamp debacle was addressed and rectified. The extra profit would simply be passed along the bonus route with managers and executives getting the large majority and the donkeys thrown a few carrots.

I wonder how much the public gives us yearly in 'good will gestures''? One thing is for sure, they appreciate us a lot more than the entity which employs us, so I would personally advise a slight priority revision when it comes to worrying about a few crumbs falling from the plate...

Not really sure what point you're trying to make Secluder. I presume you suggest that we just let all these unfranked stamps pass through the system to the public, and give them a free hand out of stamps (similar to the one we get as employees)?

You mention a lot of "Good will gestures"from the public. You may have the ideal duty but I constantly get more hassle/crap from customers than goodwill. That's part of the job....Just like cancelling any unfranked stamps. Wasn't so long ago that PTers couldn't get FT contracts because the Business wasn't making enough money and was running a really tight budget.

It may seem small amounts but I'm sure if you added up all the Free Stamps, Free Keepsafes, Free Unofficial Redirections, Free Business Collections that some Posties take it upon themselves to give away it would come to a few bob! These Freebies have a direct effect not on the Bonuses of Managers but on the likelyhood of Working Class Posties being able to keep their jobs & Pters having the opportunity to step up to FT!

I'm not a great fan of Management, or the way Royal Mail treat their staff. but lets not make it easier for them to plead poverty and cut jobs. If you like Charity why not get a job after work in one of the Charity shops?