Surcharges in Scunthorpe

[Stormproof]

POSTAL FEE IN TRUE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT?
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09:45 - 22 January 2008



How much does it cost to mail a Christmas card the short distance from an address in Ashby to another in Bottesford?

Well in the case of Phil Leek and his family it cost a staggering £1.40.Mr Leek (67), of Glanford Avenue, Bottesford, was charged extra by the Royal Mail after a Christmas card sent by a relative broke the regulations - by one eighth of an inch!

The retired pattern-maker joined a queue of other disgruntled customers at the delivery office in Church Lane, Scunthorpe, to claim the card after he was told it could not be delivered.



"I was asked to pay an administrative charge of £1, plus an extra 16p because the card had been sent with a second-class stamp," he said.

"I could not understand the 16p because the difference between a first class and a second class stamp is only 10p.

"I paid the cash but I made it clear with the three members of staff on duty I was far from happy. As far as I am concerned, the Royal Mail is ripping off customers.

"In the old days the postie would knock at your door and collect the required extra cash for under-postage.

"The Christmas card was an eighth of an inch too wide for the regulations.Yet we received other cards which were over the regulated six-and-a-half inches and did not have to pay a surcharge."

Mr Leek feels the manufacturers of Christmas cards should standardise the sizes for next year and has urged people to check sizes before mailing them out.

But a Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "The onus is on the sender to ensure enough postage is paid to avoid any disappointment and additional costs to the receiver.

"Underpaid postage costs Royal Mail millions of pounds a year.

"Mail with insufficient postage has to be processed differently from ordinary mail.

"We apply an administrative charge of £1 which is intended to cover the additional costs of handling these items, plus the difference of the amount paid and the minimum amount of postage payable."

Changes to the cost of posting letters and parcels according to their shape and size, as well as weight, were introduced in September 2006.

The changes were estimated to affect about 30 per cent of mailed items.

The Royal Mail spokeswoman declined to reveal how many people had paid the £1 surcharge for undelivered Christmas cards at the Scunthorpe office.

[not me]

god how long before folk stop whining about this.
pay the correct postage and suffer no charge.simple