Royal Mail Price Increase 2012

[phoenixalpha]

I feel the price rises this time around are shocking. The average rise is around 30%+ per item. Imagine any other industry hiking their prices by that amount and not providing any increase in service and there would be an outrage. Its not as if you can avoid using RM - its a monopoly. The rise is around 8 TIMES inflation. Its not a rise, it is an out and out price gouge, not because they need it, just because they want it. They raised their prices last year and the year before too. I can imagine that sending a single letter from lands end to john o groats will cost more than 60p if it was to be carried individually (as that is the argument) but not when you bundle it up with hundreds of other items and transport it that way. The RM service has gone dramatically down hill in the last decade whilst the prices go up. There is no alternative but for all suppliers who use RM (ie most of the people on here) to take it in the shorts, pass on either some or the whole of the cost to the customer and hope that it doesnt impact sales too much. Mind you everyone is in the same boat so there isnt much we can do.

[JSR]

from the 'post office horses mouth' they try to make sure 1st class mail is delivered within 3-4 days!!!! In that case if it gets there the next day you're lucky.

I think they used to say that First Class was "1-3 days", and 2nd Class was "3-5 days", but I may be misquoting.

These days they just say that they "aim to deliver" First Class post next day (but they call it a "1-2 day" service), and 2nd Class post on the third day.

They claim to deliver 93% of First Class mail on the next day (which is quite scary given how many pieces of mail fall into the other 7%), and 98% of 2nd Class mail by the third day.

[JSR]

It does - its called Special Delivery Next Day - its guaranteed to be delivered before 1.00pm

Although it's called a "guaranteed" service, the guarantee isn't really worth the paper it's written on. If they fail to deliver on time, they'll refund the cost of the postage. That's it.

If your item doesn't arrive on time, and you're still waiting for it, there's precious little you can do about it anyway. You can put in a claim, but...

Please wait 15 working days (from the due date of delivery) before completing this form as we would not consider an item as lost until 15 working days have elapsed.

...they don't consider it lost for *three weeks* (there's only five working days per week) after the due date of delivery. That's a long time to wait. In the meantime, you could be well out of pocket due to sending it again - and the most you'll get back, when the original does finally turn up, is cost of delivery for being late. That's not really much of a guarantee.

While Special Delivery usually does arrive when they say so, if it's a delivery you're relying on then it's small comfort that you'll get your postage back if they don't deliver on time.

[John G]

I send quite a few one off badges/mugs etc every day with 1st class post, large letter or packet and the majority get there next day, the ones that don't arrive a day later.

The lands end to john o groats for 60p quote - you would have to sort it, pack it, load the lorry, train, plane or whatever is used to carry your letters/post, then when it gets to the destination sorting office it would need sorting into some sort of round then delivered by hand. All that for 60p. No - its not possible to do it yourself, even in bulk - as the bulk gets split across the country so its not just lands end and john o groats, its UK wide.

I've also use the special delivery countless times and it has NEVER let me down once.

OK 7% not turning up is quite high, but does this take into account the amount of wrongly addressed mail, no postcode, underpaid etc.?

[RogerC]

The Lands End- John O'Groats argument really doesn't add up. When the Royal Mail set it's prices all those factors were taken into account. There are some letters/packets etc which only go a few miles whilst others go hundreds if not thousands of miles. As is done in the private sector it is all about quantity against cost. For example if one of us was to supply one mug/sub product I would expect a higher price than if someone was ordering 100 etc....it's all about quantity/profit not distance.

[John G]

Yes, that's why even if they averaged out the mileage, its still not expensive.

Out of interest - what do other countries pay for their postage

[RogerC]

Yes, that's why even if they averaged out the mileage, its still not expensive.

Out of interest - what do other countries pay for their postage

Ok so you feel it's not expensive......I consider my customers will think it is. The profit margins for parcels/jiffy bags etc are huge at current prices. Take for instance the DHL UK operation. Their parcel prices are (from memory) not a million miles away from those of the Royal Mail. Their profitability is obviously good considering the size of their operation inside the UK....offices, vans a huge sorting operation at East Midlands airport and a fleet of aircraft (which fly each and every night).

So if DHL etc can provide this service without hiking their prices by over 8 times inflation to a price which I consider will see a huge downturn in letter post ...how can this increase be justified?

[JSR]

I think that the Royal Mail could be the service that it should be if it could be run properly, but every time they try to change things to run it properly, everyone goes on strike. The whole organisation continues to exist in the Dark Ages because it can't adapt to the times.

My personal thoughts on the subject are split. The idea of privatising the Royal Mail horrifies me, because the ideals behind it are for a superb service that would be the envy of all other delivery services. On the other hand, we've all seen it getting steadily worse over the years and ever more in debt. Something needs to be done, and they can't do it themselves, so the only option left is to privatise it - which will effectively mean getting rid of it altogether, and then we'll be left with nothing even remotely as good.

In an era when online shopping should be a boon for all delivery services, we're going to end up sacrificing the one that should be the best. That makes no sense whatsoever.

[John G]

Ok so you feel it's not expensive......I consider my customers will think it is

Your customers have a choice, either pay the postage and buy online - or go to the shops. I know which way that will go - give it a few weeks and everyone will have forgotten about the rise, as they did last year, and the year before.

Did you loose all your customers last year because of the rise?

[RogerC]

Your customers have a choice, either pay the postage and buy online - or go to the shops. I know which way that will go - give it a few weeks and everyone will have forgotten about the rise, as they did last year, and the year before.

Did you loose all your customers last year because of the rise?

No but like me they felt that the service and level of losses did not justify the increase. Like JSR said it 'should' be a service to be proud of but is hindered by bad practices and poor management. I'm old enough to remember when there were two first class deliveries a day and you could rely on 1st class getting there the next day. These days it seems to be like everything else......hike the price and reduce the service and to hell with the customer if something gets lost..