Probe into Post Office charging

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7147013.stm

By Suzanne Allan
BBC Scotland's investigations unit

I hung up the receiver thinking there might be something to investigate.

I'd just taken a phone call from David Thomson, lead officer for trading standards at South Ayrshire Council.

He'd confided to me that the trading standards community had concerns the Post Office was over-charging for basic items of post.

What we're talking about is the Post Office's stock-in-trade - cards and packages.

I wondered, how could they get that wrong?

New pricing

David had done some mystery shopping in South Ayrshire and the average over-charge was 29%.

So people in Scotland could potentially be being ripped off for hundreds of thousands of pounds - all because of a new pricing system.

In August last year Royal Mail introduced a new way of charging.

They used to charge by how heavy a letter was, but now it's by how heavy, wide and large it is.

So BBC Scotland's investigations unit got together with trading standards and came up with a strategy to test the new system.

Trading standards made up letters, large letters and packets to exact specifications of height, weight and size - and with that we were off.

Using secret filming I randomly targeted post offices in Glasgow in a variety of areas.

In one branch a large letter which should have cost 98p was charged at £1.84 - almost double.

When the Dundee results came back - all failed the test - I realised over-charging was rife.

Robust defence

Imagine if you are sending 50 Christmas cards?

The pennies would soon add up.

So out of the 41 Post Offices tested by us and trading standards, 27 of them over-charged.

What would the Post Office have to say about this?

Ian Mackay, director of Scottish affairs for the Royal Mail Group, was robust in his defence.

He claimed they had never had that kind of problem reported and said our letters were borderline, so staff were over-charging to err on the side of caution.

In other words, if you send a box of candied fruits to your granny she's not going to have to get her purse out for the postie before getting her Christmas present.

We dispute this because all our letters and packets were exact.

However, he did say they were very sorry and thanked us for bringing it to their attention.

"We certainly would like to reassure the public we do everything we can to ensure that the correct charge is put onto their mail," he added.

With millions of letters and parcels going through the mail system over the next couple of weeks, and potentially more than 50% of Post Offices over-charging, this is a major problem.

[dvbuk55]

We have at least 500 cards waiting to be surcharged so there's a nice little earner there - no-one's got round to making the cards out yet though - so we need to get them out by Weds at the latest or just post the ones that have put a stamp on and only surcharge the ones with no stamp or like one I saw today with an Iceland £1 sticker on.

[dvbuk55]

We have at least 500 cards waiting to be surcharged so there's a nice little earner there - no-one's got round to making the cards out yet though - so we need to get them out by Weds at the latest or just post the ones that have put a stamp on and only surcharge the ones with no stamp or like one I saw today with an Iceland £1 sticker on.

An Iceland £1 sticker? So thats where the wife lost it was it. LOL.

It looked well licked

[dvbuk55]

We have at least 500 cards waiting to be surcharged so there's a nice little earner there - no-one's got round to making the cards out yet though - so we need to get them out by Weds at the latest or just post the ones that have put a stamp on and only surcharge the ones with no stamp or like one I saw today with an Iceland £1 sticker on.

An Iceland £1 sticker? So thats where the wife lost it was it. LOL.

It looked well licked

I aint saying nothing! I claim the fifth ammendment! Yep i hate the yankee but they do come in for a bit of use sometimes and the wife reads RMC as well. LOL.

Oooops - apologies, that didn't occur to me

[Lounge Lizard]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7147013.stm

By Suzanne Allan
BBC Scotland's investigations unit

I hung up the receiver thinking there might be something to investigate.

I'd just taken a phone call from David Thomson, lead officer for trading standards at South Ayrshire Council.

He'd confided to me that the trading standards community had concerns the Post Office was over-charging for basic items of post.

What we're talking about is the Post Office's stock-in-trade - cards and packages.

I wondered, how could they get that wrong?

New pricing

David had done some mystery shopping in South Ayrshire and the average over-charge was 29%.

So people in Scotland could potentially be being ripped off for hundreds of thousands of pounds - all because of a new pricing system.

In August last year Royal Mail introduced a new way of charging.

They used to charge by how heavy a letter was, but now it's by how heavy, wide and large it is.

So BBC Scotland's investigations unit got together with trading standards and came up with a strategy to test the new system.

Trading standards made up letters, large letters and packets to exact specifications of height, weight and size - and with that we were off.

Using secret filming I randomly targeted post offices in Glasgow in a variety of areas.

In one branch a large letter which should have cost 98p was charged at £1.84 - almost double.

When the Dundee results came back - all failed the test - I realised over-charging was rife.

Robust defence

Imagine if you are sending 50 Christmas cards?

The pennies would soon add up.

So out of the 41 Post Offices tested by us and trading standards, 27 of them over-charged.

What would the Post Office have to say about this?

Ian Mackay, director of Scottish affairs for the Royal Mail Group, was robust in his defence.

He claimed they had never had that kind of problem reported and said our letters were borderline, so staff were over-charging to err on the side of caution.

In other words, if you send a box of candied fruits to your granny she's not going to have to get her purse out for the postie before getting her Christmas present.

We dispute this because all our letters and packets were exact.

However, he did say they were very sorry and thanked us for bringing it to their attention.

"We certainly would like to reassure the public we do everything we can to ensure that the correct charge is put onto their mail," he added.

With millions of letters and parcels going through the mail system over the next couple of weeks, and potentially more than 50% of Post Offices over-charging, this is a major problem.

It wouldn't have been much of a story for Trading Standards or the BBC if they had posted items with RANDOM specifications of height, weight and size as practically all would have been priced correctly. But don't represent the 99% or so of items posted that clearly fall into a particular weight and size, use "EXACT specifications of height, weight and size" and ALL will be borderline such that the price could be one way or the other and, hey presto, they can claim that many are overpriced, ignoring the fact that in some cases this may have been done to avoid the risk of the recipient being surcharged over £1 if someone furtyer along the chain interprets the 'borderline' weight or size differently.

[Lounge Lizard]

Quote.

It wouldn't have been much of a story for Trading Standards or the BBC if they had posted items with RANDOM specifications of height, weight and size as practically all would have been priced correctly. But don't represent the 99% or so of items posted that clearly fall into a particular weight and size, use "EXACT specifications of height, weight and size" and ALL will be borderline such that the price could be one way or the other and, hey presto, they can claim that many are overpriced, ignoring the fact that in some cases this may have been done to avoid the risk of the recipient being surcharged over £1 if someone furtyer along the chain interprets the 'borderline' weight or size differently.


Its only a story worth telling because these same f*ckers are telling us all about the peoples Post Office and how the Service is being improved and modernised. (Not.)
So as a member of the PEOPLE and not RM group WHY ARE WE PAYING MORE FOR A WORSE SERVICE THAT IS MORE CONFUSING COMES LATER AND OUR POSTIES HAVE TO WORK FOR AN EXTRA FIVE YEARS FOR LESS PENSION? Just ask New Liebour, they need the cash. The size and shape in a true USO are simple to understand and priced fairly but RM and the Goverment would rather use posties as a cash cow to milk the public even further!

Agree about the public getting a worse service and how unacceptable that is, but for the counter clerk trying to price BORDERLINE items would be like motorists being expected to drive AT the speed limits, points on your license for 29 or 31 mph !

[axeman]

if you pass a camera then you go below the speed limit ? (i do) so r.m should take a more cautious approach and not rip off the customers

[DGP1]

I would have thought all PO's would have a size chart (the perspex ones that we delivered last year) so mistakes should not be made (easily).