Postage Problems!

[alc3261]

Furious!!
International Economy letter posted on Tuesday returned today with a sticker telling me I had not put enough postage on my "Airmail letter" - no Airmail sticker anywhere on this letter. Weight was 14grams.
I went to the Post Office who said "Nothing to do with us, that's Royal Mail"
Royal Mail office closed.
I rang the number on the sticker and after a good five minutes of "press 1 for......, press 2 for......" I got through to a person (from Royal Mail remember) who told me International letter rate was £1.33!! I had to educate her on "International Economy" by directing her to page 15 of the leaflet.
I was then told to send my (personal) letter in to make a complaint.
I was also told that I should have marked my envelope "International Economy", it does not state this anywhere in the leaflet nor on the website.
Complaint made.
Very, very cross.

[TXKat]

Sorry for your troubles!!!

 

The USPS (United States Postal Service) can be just as irritating. Now that they have gone private, they keep raising rates at a yearly pace, yet the service provided by them gets more and more lax with each passing year! They blame the slowing of snail mail, but part of that, in my experience, is due to the people they now having working at the local post office. Our location made the news for postal workers stealing money (never send) and gift cards from birthday, anniversay, etc. cards and then going as far as putting in a new envelope!

 

It is an uphill battle always, it seems. I do believe most places have cheaper rates than we do. If that can be considered a plus.

Edited August 21, 2015 by TXKat

[Judybug]

When mailing something to Hawaii recently, I had to tell the postal worker that Hawaii is a US state. He thought it was a foreign country. In fairness, not all the workers at our post office are quite this clueless.

 

Judybug

[ac12]

 

When mailing something to Hawaii recently, I had to tell the postal worker that Hawaii is a US state. He thought it was a foreign country. In fairness, not all the workers at our post office are quite this clueless.

Judybug

 

hmmmm, Hawaii has been a stated since 1959, so 56 years.

 

Maybe Alaska isn't a state either. 1959 also.

[En passant]

Ouch, I thought us South Africans were one of the few with postal issues. We had over a month long strike last year and they lost the business of major institutions like UNISA among others.

Now they are complaining they don't have enough revenue to cover costs and there are talks of retrenchment.

 

Well DUH!!! Stupidity has few limits.

[Chrissy]

I have great sympathy with you alc because I went to my local Post Office to buy some International Economy stamps, and was advised that the only International stamps available for postcards or letters were Airmail up to 10g.

 

I asked the assistant if she had the Royal Mail price leaflet and when she produced one I showed her the International Economy page showing the price of the stamp I wanted. She called the manager over who had never heard of it either. Eventually she went and had a look in the safe and found some, and advised me that she had never sold one before, since the Post Office had been there. This is a Crown Post Office that has been in the same location for 25 years.

 

If one of my letters had been returned, with the correct postage on it, I would have emailed the Royal Mail CEO. I have done that once, and she replied within an hour.

 

Now what I do is to buy my stamps cheaper from Philatelink. I have to spend £20 minimum, but I get all of my stamps at reduced prices.

 

I would love to know if US letter writers can get cheaper stamps from a similar online source as I will need some very soon.

[alc3261]

Do you have their email address?

[TXKat]

To my knowledge, there is no discount on any stamps whether purchased from the USPS or elsewhere.

 

Hawaii is a state?? (I'm KIDDING!!!)

[alc3261]

Dear Ms Greene,

I posted a personal letter to a friend in the USA on Tuesday – Handmade envelope, address label, my address label top left corner, 81p stamp + 5p stamp = International Economy postage (85p for up to 20 grams), the letter weighed 14 grams.

Yesterday it was returned to me with a sticky label across the address stating there was “insufficient postage for your Airmail item” with the stamps cancelled. I did NOT put an Airmail sticker on the letter and it was NOT an Airmail envelope.

I went down to the Post Office and got “nothing to do with us, that’s Royal Mail”.

The local Royal Mail office is am only.

I rang the number on the sticker, after a considerable period of “press 1 for......, press 2 for .......” I eventually got to a person who told me that International postage to the USA was £1.33.

I consider this appalling ignorance as postage is £1.00 if the letter is under 10 grams and International Economy DOES EXIST.

I had your leaflet so I referred the person to Page 15 of the current “Our Prices” leaflet.

They put me on hold. They came back and said I should have marked the envelope “Economy International” – as I pointed out there is no mention of this in the leaflet nor on your website.

I was told my only recourse was to send in my envelope with a Complaint form.

There was no sense of a “we’ll sort this out as it is obviously our error”.

(My suggestion would perhaps have been, “take it to your Royal Mail Office in the morning and they will ensure your letter is sent”.)

The existence of International Economy is denied in Post Offices and your postal staff are clearly unaware of it, this is a training issue.

I am very annoyed at my (correctly stamped) mail being delayed in this fashion.

This is not the first time this has happened to my mail.

I would appreciate your comments.

Yours sincerely

[Lorna Reed]

Great letter alc! I hope you will let us know what reply (if any) you get.

 

Chrissy you are very lucky to still have a crown post office. They closed the crown office in Coventry City Centre some years ago. It was in a beautiful Victorian building and was always busy with queues to the door. It is now a gold bullion business. Our only post office in the city centre now is squashed into a branch of WH Smith.

[inkstainedruth]

Great letter alc! I hope you will let us know what reply (if any) you get.

 

Chrissy you are very lucky to still have a crown post office. They closed the crown office in Coventry City Centre some years ago. It was in a beautiful Victorian building and was always busy with queues to the door. It is now a gold bullion business. Our only post office in the city centre now is squashed into a branch of WH Smith.

In the US they have been consolidating post offices as a "cost-cutting" measure. There was just a story on the news a couple of days ago about Nemocolin, PA, a small town southeast of here that is probably losing their post office.

We don't yet know if our local office is on the chopping block or not; and my brother-in-law, who is the Postmaster for a small town in MA, doesn't know about his office yet either. Although in his case he may be safe because his supervisor was impressed by the way Norman had turned things around -- that office is no longer a "problem child" the way some neighboring town Post Offices are (and his supervisor is happy not to have to drive the hour plus from north of Boston down to Norman's office when there's some issue, the way there used to be before Norman took over).

Oh, and if you have an issue, there is no longer a complaint form to fill out -- so from experience I can tell you that the thing to do here in the US is to contact a Postal Inspector (ignore supervisors -- our local one is an idiot and a total witch (spelled with a B...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[alc3261]

Ms Greene is the CEO of Royal Mail so I went to the top!!

[cleosmama]

Here in the US I have had three packages just disappear. One actually arrived in Lafayette, LA, where I live (UPS transfers the package from their service to the US local post office for delivery in some instances). Once it got to Lafayette, it went off the map and has never shown up.

 

Someone mailed me a pen from the UK and it never arrived.

 

I sent someone a box of ink samples and it still shows "in transit" on tracking. No one has any idea where it went.

 

It's very frustrating; on the other hand, they do handle millions of pieces of mail a day, so I guess every now and then something will go missing.

[alc3261]

Ms Greene is the CEO of Royal Mail so I went to the top!!

Reply from Royal Mail CEO received!!

[alc3261]

I have great sympathy with you alc because I went to my local Post Office to buy some International Economy stamps, and was advised that the only International stamps available for postcards or letters were Airmail up to 10g.

 

I asked the assistant if she had the Royal Mail price leaflet and when she produced one I showed her the International Economy page showing the price of the stamp I wanted. She called the manager over who had never heard of it either. Eventually she went and had a look in the safe and found some, and advised me that she had never sold one before, since the Post Office had been there. This is a Crown Post Office that has been in the same location for 25 years.

 

If one of my letters had been returned, with the correct postage on it, I would have emailed the Royal Mail CEO. I have done that once, and she replied within an hour.

 

Now what I do is to buy my stamps cheaper from Philatalink. I have to spend £20 minimum, but I get all of my stamps at reduced prices.

 

I would love to know if US letter writers can get cheaper stamps from a similar online source as I will need some very soon.

Not quite within the hour but reply received same day.

[TXKat]

Inquiring minds want to know...are they going to do anything to rectify the situation, at least for you?

 

I've learned in situations similar to those shared above, nothing gets done (changed) unless you get someone that cares...and most people in these positions are there either for benefits or paycheck and don't give a flying fig about knowing their job and doing it well. Not all are this way, mind you, but around here it's most.

[linearM]

I have absolutely no problems with the post office or their employees. I had a pen coming, tracking said it would be coming on Saturday, when I would be out of town. I went down to the post office and asked them to hold the package for pickup on Monday, which they said they would be happy to do. The package arrived on Friday, a day earlier than tracking indicated.

 

When I go into the post office the clerks know almost everyone by name, and are friendly, and enjoy conversing while helping with your business. I live in a town of 11,000 in Minnesota. I'm sure it would be different in a large city.

[OCArt]

I have never had any problems with the U.S. post office until recently. I won the bid on a modern Parker Duofold-- probably a Centennial although I could not tell from the photos. We have temporary carriers on my route and the mail carrier delivered it to some other address. GPS tracking on delivery didn't help as the carrier, against regulations, apparently scanned the package in the truck. The USPS could not locate my package and the bidding site refused to refund my money as the seller had proof of delivery from the tracking. USPS would not process my claim for lost mail as it was not insured. I am now out a significant amount of money.

 

The irony is that all my Chinese pens have been delivered without a hitch! I do think my problem is very rare but that is little consolation.

[asnailmailer]

A penfriend of mine had a letter returned to her because one of the zip-code numbers was wrong/missing. Surely someone in the postal service could have worked out the correct zip-code?

[alc3261]

And it has been returned AGAIN after re-sending in a new envelope with new stamps AND a sticker stating "International Economy"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4cdho0kadom03xs/2015-08-26%2017.03.44.jpg?dl=0

Royal Mail CEO contacted AGAIN.

Immediate apology received. Investigating.