Beavis Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 from 46p http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17522500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marzman Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 ...cant remember the last time i had to post anything though, other than things i've sold on here and on ebay. I can understand Royal Mail's price increases, and think that it's not going to be that long until the entire company has to change as its not sustainable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Might stop a lot of junk mail though Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Blimey, that's an increase and a half. Thing is, no other company can offer the same service as RM and although it does have it's faults, for the most part they do a pretty good job under fairly strict controls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gudzy Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I knew they were 46p as my brother lost £150k on million pound by getting that wrong. Whenever they are doing a mail shot at work they will confirm the price of stamps with me now! That's a large increase as a percentage, think I better stock up now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidnightRacer Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I don't know how the rates will be set for business's but for a private letter it still seems fair enough to me considering we happily spend £3 on a pint of beer and £7 on a packet of cigs these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 needs must i suppose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 ...we happily spend £3 on a pint of beer and £7 on a packet of cigs these days. Thank god I dont drink or smoke, I wouldnt be able to afford the Zed if I did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidnightRacer Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 ...we happily spend £3 on a pint of beer and £7 on a packet of cigs these days. Thank god I dont drink or smoke, I wouldnt be able to afford the Zed if I did yeah its a shocker if you think about it. I was in Barcelona last week and paid 11 euros for 2 small bottles of beer, I nearly had a coronary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 ...we happily spend £3 on a pint of beer and £7 on a packet of cigs these days. Thank god I dont drink or smoke, I wouldnt be able to afford the Zed if I did yeah its a shocker if you think about it. I was in Barcelona last week and paid 11 euros for 2 small bottles of beer, I nearly had a coronary! Anywhere in europe is a bit steep due to the exchange rate. In fact anywhere outside of the UK seems expensive now. Only way I can afford to go on holiday outside the UK is if I go all inclusive. 60p for a stamp though. Thats mental. I remember they were about 18p last time I checked! I mainly send packages though, so havent needed to check the price of a 1st class stamp for some time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff-r Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Might stop a lot of junk mail though Pete Wishful thinking there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Do people actually still write letters and post them nowadays??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beavis Posted March 27, 2012 Author Share Posted March 27, 2012 Do people actually still write letters and post them nowadays??? More the older generation i think, my dad certainly does! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Do people actually still write letters and post them nowadays??? I got asked to sign quite a lot of stuff and send it back for wedding prep. I think bar one, they all took a scanned and emailed copy. Far easier. When I was contracting they did the same for timesheets and invoices, they took scanned and emailed copies. Only problem now is I am getting a mountain of paperwork I have to keep as evidence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebized Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Post is like the High Streets, as we all sit tapping away on our keyboards to buy and communicate, they are dying I feel sorry for my postie - the amount of junk mail he now has to deliver - more than the regular post and to every letterbox, no matter what. Perhaps I'll have to tip him more at Xmas not to deliver the junk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 There are lots of places still using the postal service for documents. DVLA Solicitors Banks Any business requiring hard copy signed documents What I dont understand is that if the number of posted items has declined by 25%, then why havent royal mail been able to recuce costs massively too? Surely 25% less letters means there should be some significant saving in fuel, personnel and handling costs. Though of course the unions would scream blue murder if there were any suggestion of cutting back on staff costs in relation to the reduced level of business. Im sure the unions would still think it viable to have thousands of staff employed to play scrabble if there were zero letters to post. Dont think for a second that businesses (like those above) will be swallowing these costs. We will all be paying for them somewhere. Its nice to see that those on benefits will still be able to post their christmas cards for the same price as this year though. Clearly their friends and relatives are much more important than those of everyone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetSet Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 What I dont understand is that if the number of posted items has declined by 25%, then why havent royal mail been able to recuce costs massively too? Surely 25% less letters means there should be some significant saving in fuel, personnel and handling costs. I can't comment on what its like in the cities and towns but we're like 4 miles away from civilisation and we get an average of 3 to 4 letters, mainly junk mail, delivered every day. It'd be difficult to reduce costs out here as although the amount of stuff has dropped they still need a van and a postie to cover the area. Lets face it, it doesn't matter if there are 10 letters to deliver to my house or just one, its going to cost exactly the same . Alternate day delivery would cut the costs for sure but would in effect end the current first class/second class system. The P.O around here have cut the number of local sorting centres from 4 to 2 and almost all the post offices have closed. Buckley had 4 some 25 years ago, since then it has tripled in size and lost 3 of its P.O's. The sole remaining P.O never has more than 3 counters open at any one time, this for a town with a population of around 25,000, it's a nightmare . Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Its the costs at the sorting centres that could be reduced. Cant disagree with the logic of still requiring the same man and van for 10 letters or one, similar to the mail train from the north to the south etc. However costs of sorting staff, sorting machinery and mail deopt staff could be reduced imho. Its just that wouldnt play well with the unionists so, we have to wait for natural selection to take its toll and just not replace. However there is then the pensions that will require paying for too. Ill bet those companies that will come in to compete with Royal Mail wont have staff on final salary pensions and have the threats of strikes hanging over their heads whenever they even think about looking at staff costs to reduce expenditure.... The writing is on the wall unless there are very significant changes, but the unions choose not to read it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I went for a managerial job at the Post Office in Bristol once, the more I looked into it the more was glad I didn't get offered it. The Unions run the places and looks like they have run them into the ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glrnet Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I think they intend to privatise it in 2014, DHL will probably buy it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 It is not just the 1st and 2nd class stamps that are going up in price, it is basically across the board for most of there services including parcels, so brace yourselves lads. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humpy Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 It is not just the 1st and 2nd class stamps that are going up in price, it is basically across the board for most of there services including parcels, so brace yourselves lads. Alex Yeah need to find out about what other services within post office is being affected, we send a lot of ' leaflets ' ( junk mail ) out every month so this all might change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Mail drops cost a lot of money royal fail dont do it for free. I'm sick and fed up of royal fail though. I could stomach their prices if they didnt screw up nearly every it of mail. 20% of stuff delivered from royal fail is damaged compared to 0% with other companies. They charge to much for sending small packets. They are slow. We sometimes get mail delivered on a Sunday because the sorting centre here can be slow by 2 weeks. They have the infrastructure already in place so why can 95% of couriers deliver cheaper without playing football with it first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 I sent an expensive HU to a member in West Yorkshire last month, paid £22 fully insured and guaranteed next day before 1pm. It didn't arrive the next day so I tracked it, it was in Doncaster! I got a full refund so not all bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozz Posted March 28, 2012 Share Posted March 28, 2012 Its the costs at the sorting centres that could be reduced. Cant disagree with the logic of still requiring the same man and van for 10 letters or one, similar to the mail train from the north to the south etc. However costs of sorting staff, sorting machinery and mail deopt staff could be reduced imho. Its just that wouldnt play well with the unionists so, we have to wait for natural selection to take its toll and just not replace. However there is then the pensions that will require paying for too. Ill bet those companies that will come in to compete with Royal Mail wont have staff on final salary pensions and have the threats of strikes hanging over their heads whenever they even think about looking at staff costs to reduce expenditure.... The writing is on the wall unless there are very significant changes, but the unions choose not to read it... Its extremely expensive to get rid of people and difficult at the best of times, can't imagine how much harder it would be with the union control - walkouts leading to backlogs etc. Was it last year or year before they were striking over increased automation. Difficult to progress and modernise with that kind of resistance. Does seem expensive though I can't remember the last time I had to pay for a stamp - Banks for instance nearly always provide postage paid envelopes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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