Postal charges

Yes, I have been asked the value of the contents of a parcel I was sending at our local post office. I asked why they wanted to know, and was told that if the item was over a certain value I'd have to pay extra for insurance.

So I lied. As far as I'm concerned, proof of posting should be enough!

I heard someone say in the Post Office today that there was a reduced rate at the moment for Christmas so it might be an idea to send Christmas cards now .....

I send a letter once a month to my mother in Australia, the last letter I sent was longer than usual so the envelope was a bit thicker - the postage was charged as a small parcel! I was also asked several times what was in the envelope, did I want insurance etc. etc.

I have noticed that charges seem to differ in different POs. The best way seems to put items that can be flattened, eg. Clothing, into A4 posting bags. Squash all the air out of them and then they go through the large letter gauge.
As for saying what is inside,
; some parcels go by air, even in this country, some items- liquids, batteries etc are not allowed for safety reasons. The air lines scan them, if you have lied they, apparently trace the parcel back to sender! This was explained to me by a very pleasant counter assistant.

As for not being accurate about value, I agree. There is a basic £20 insurance on all items sent. X

I was recently told by PO staff that they need to know the contents because some of the items - even inland - are sent by plane. I wanted to send a small bottle of perfume oil (so not even a spray) and had to sign a declaration form to send it inland! If you don't do that, it can be siezed by airport staff if they regard it as 'suspect' when it's scanned at the airport!

x posts J52 !!!

I was sending copies of a journal I edit to various addresses in the US. I was asked what the contents were and beyond being told that made them 'printed papers', a category I thought was extinct, no effort was made to get me to insure them or anything else.

Since the PO brought in its extortionate 'large' parcel category in last year I have been using the MyHermes courier company to get larger parcels to their destinations. I can do all the paperwork online and, while they will collect from home for an extra charge, I just deliver my parcel to my local collection centre - a branch of Costcutter in the next village.

What's the price difference between the two on average, do you think? It sounds like a good scheme.

Last year, when the change in the PO rates shut down DD's online business, the Post Office rate for a standard package that she used to send out went up from £2.70 to £8.20. She researched around and found MyHermes and if she delivered it to her local agent the cost was just above £5.00. Still too much for her business as the product she was dispatching was relatively bulky, but low value.

However since then DH has used MyHermes a number of times for heavier items he has sold on ebay. Today I dispatched a parcel weighing 2 1/2kilos for £6.28

I see. It's really gone up a lot, no wonder all the eBay prices have gone up so much. Very few people start their prices at 99p anymore, with postage at only a couple of pounds. I read somewhere that the post office makes most of its money now from eBay so it's cutting off its nose to spite its face, because many sellers are giving up as it makes their items too expensive. Good news for charity shops though.

I was just going to start a thread about overseas postage charges then I noticed this one.

This afternoon I parcelled up a few things to post to Australia - there is very little in the parcel and it is only just over 1.5 kg. When I had a look online the cost of posting would be nearly £30! I normally give money to Australian relatives, but like to send a small parcel with some gifts which they have not had to buy themselves.

I am having a good think about whether or not I should send it as this seems an extortionate price. Perhaps I will send it by sea and re-wrap DGS's present in birthday paper!

Rosequartz: when we were sending parcels to Australia, we found that the size mattered just as much as weight. We wanted to send our son a kite. The cost was £50 because of the length and width. We dismantled it into 3 packages and it cost under £20!

I found that it was often cheaper to buy from M & S on line and they wrapped and shipped them from Singapore all for one delivery price. X

janerowena I think that now e-bay charge sellers 10% on the cost of postage people are charging more for items to cover the cost plus there is a lot of buyers who now claim they don't receive parcels so sellers are now paying for tracking which all adds to the 99p items being long gone and there used to be some really good bargains to be had.
I send anything via PO which can go into A4 sized bag and as long as the weight is under 1kg it costs £2.80 or £3.90 signed for,or up to 2kgs with myhermes for £3.98 fully tracked which is good.
I'm not sure if PO special offers are only for parcels or if cards are included I must read the notice in my local PO.

It no longer pays to buy something cheaply and post it on anywhere in the world at all, really. So many companies will send on anywhere completely free, or for very little. Just look at Amazon.

I will try M&S for birthdays in future, J52. I do find their website awful to cope with, though.

Unfortunately I saw something for DGS which seemed a bargain, but isn't when postage is added. However, it is probably still cheaper than ordering from an online toyshop in Australia. I will probably send the main present and forget about the nice little bits and bobs I foolishly bought!

Amazon are not in Australia for some reason - the orders go out from the USA to Australia and the postage cost was quite high when I used it a couple of years ago.

Interesting post

Last Christmas I was sending small items to Australia as big ones were costing more than their value. I too had the third degree and eventually had to re-buy a number of presents to replace nail varnish, small penknives, magnetic jigsaw puzzles and book marks - I was very cross. This year I've carried presents in my luggage as I am visiting but from now on I'll be sending money or buying online via M & S or similar.

I've done Amazon for books in the past but they do not send books to Australia - dependant on the publisher. Many publishers in Australia have controlled prices and agreements with Amazon so books are very expensive and it is difficult to circumvent. Daughter in NZ uses the Book Depository (USA) and seems to receive books that way.

I will certainly check out the prices of some of the couriers if I want to send parcels in the UK in future!

I mourn the lost of our lovely GPO service that seemed to meet our needs for so long. I am very happy to subsidise services out of general taxes as we all benefit in the long term - we are becoming a more unequal and unpleasant society as the years go by. I wonder what the future will hold for our grandchildren and great grandchildren if they are in the growing 'have not' people?

That worries me, too. I already know that I will not have what my mother and inlaws have, for myself. I know that I shall have to subsidise my children and will also probably not have any inheritance whatsoever to fund myself as I age, let alone be able to help my children out. At the age I am at now, those older generations had already taken possession of large inherited savings from their parents. Not only are they still alive, but all the money they have will be eaten up by their care. Our money is currently being eaten up by travelling to both ends of the country to check up on them. Being a sandwich generation is a very expensive situation to find yourself in.

I have five large parcels awaiting postage. I keep looking at them and wishing they would grow wings. I used to send FiL books I had finished reading to save him from having to buy them. Now I just give them all to charity and send him duplicates through amazon of ones I think he would like when they are on offer. It's not the same somehow.

ayse I checked online to see if different couriers were cheaper but they seem to be more expensive. I think if you were sending a very large or heavy parcel it would be more cost-effective to use one of them.

I am going to grit my teeth and post it, or split it into two and see if that is cheaper; I was going to include a couple of books for DGS but they will have to wait. I have done the rest of the shopping online or given money, which is not the same really. However, at least they can choose what they want and the exchange rate is better now!

Where DGC are involved why not send the money and a present label to the parents so that they can turn it into the gift you want to give, wrap it and put your label on so that on Christmas day your DGC open a present from you.

I do this with God daughter's children. Birthdays the money goes direct to them but at Christmas she turns it into something wrappable - and they only live 70 miles away!

I do that in the main, Flickety; have deposited money into DD's account (there are birthdays too at Christmas!). DGS has had a big present this year to which some of us are contributing, but then I saw something I thought he would like and thought I would buy it as it was on offer! Probably the postage will eat up the £15 I saved - and more - and it is very light, that is what is so annoying.