Further blondeness

[j4]

How do you calculate postage costs? The thing I'm selling weighs about 100g ... is there a definitive list of weight/cost for different tariffs? (Failing to find it on the Royal Mail website...) Is it okay to round up for postage-and-packing-and-faff? Or does that put people off?

I don't understand the difference between the different postage options any more either. As far as I can tell they all translate to either "we put it in a bag and get round to sending it when we feel like it" or "you pay through the nose and we leave it on their doorstep in the rain the next day". :-/

Comments

[burkesworks.livejournal.com]

> Is it okay to round up for postage-and-packing-and-faff?

Yes, within reason; fair enough to round up something that's likely to cost, say, 42p to post up to 50p or even a quid. Though there _are_ still one or two clowns out there that think they can get away with charging £6.50 p&p on something like a 256 MB RAM stick (for that price I'd want it hand delivered by Maria Sharapova in a gold-plated Rolls-Royce).
And much of the time some of the postage options don't really matter that much, I've had items going missing when sent via Recorded Delivery or even Special. To be honest, you're as well sending either first-class or regular ParcelForce (with the optional insurance) depending on the weight of your items and depending on just how high-value they are. The one thing to really watch out for is anything containing glass, the Royal Mail rugby team have a horrible habit of using these things for line-out practice or so it seems.

[duncanneko.livejournal.com]

Postage costs are on the Royal Mail website here (http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400023&mediaId=9300094), with breakdowns by weight etc. For E-bay etc, I'd recommend picking the highest you think it's likely to cost and adding a smidgen extra to be on the safe side - generally people will be happy to spent a few quid on postage. Depends on value/fragility of what you're sending, really. Also, don't forget to include weight of packaging.

100g 1st class is 42p, by the way

[fivemack.livejournal.com]

The Royal Mail website is hard to link to, but 100g is 42p by first-class post.

As a mathematician, I feel contractually obliged to put in a useless formula: for things weighing less than 800 grams, first class post never costs more than 28p + 0.35p per gram.

Rounding up the postage-and-packing is utterly reasonable, think of it as charging for the faff involved in going to the post office. For things less than about a kilo use first-class post, for valuable thinsg and for heavier things up to 10kg use Special Delivery.

There are lots of other postage options, as there are confusing options for all things in our increasingly choice-ridden society; do you want red or blue pills for your anomie? Should your surgeon use Wilkinson or Victorinox scalpels? ANSWER AT ONCE, REMEMBER A WRONG ANSWER CAN RUIN YOUR LIFE ENTIRELY.

There are other means; I had someone drive 80 miles this morning to pick up my laptop and give me cash for it.

I hope at least some of this helps at least a little bit

[lnr]

You're allowed to add a reasonable amount for "packing and handling" as well as the actual postage fee, I'd say actual cost of materials if you use new jiffy bags and around 50p is reasonable. As for postage costs, don't forget to weigh including packing (I've been caught out by 10p that way):

• first class
• Second class

Add 65p for recorded delivery to either of the above. This only means it needs to be signed for, to be honest I don't think it's much use. You can always get a free certificate of posting and that's enough for claiming back compensation if it goes missing, though you might want to investigate other options if the item is worth more than £28.

For parcels over 1Kg:

• Standard Parcels

The bottom table on that page says how much you would pay for extra compensation on parcels.

[imc.livejournal.com]

Recorded is I think the cheapest option where the package needs to be signed for, so (in theory at least) it won't get left out on the doorstep in the rain (I've already told one postman off for doing that here - I think there's a second one doing it now). You also get a tracking number to check on their web site.

If I remember correctly (without being arsed to go to the website to check) the compensation for lost or damaged items is higher too.

[lnr]

The compensation is the same. And I find it just means you have to be in for even small parcels that would fit through the letterbox. And if you don't pick it up from the post-office in 7 days they send it back, instead of the usual 3 weeks.

[sparrowsion]

Of four packages arriving (all for j4) the week before last, two were left on the doorstep with no card through the door (Monday and Saturday -- fortunately on both occasions this was accompanied by the door being knocked or the bell rung before the postman ran off, and I was in and able to retrieve them), one was recorded delivery and needed me to sign (Thursday) and one was taken back to the sorting office with a card through the door (Wednesday). When I went to pick the latter up, I asked if there was a complaints procedurde, and the chap at the desk went to look for the appropriate manager to discuss this with. Who was mysteriously on a meal break.

In other words, IMO, if it won't fit through a letter box, recorded is worth it. Maybe this crapness is deliberate policy to get people to pay for recorded.

[lnr]

Oh and it's not blonde, the royal mail page is a complete arse, I only have the links because I bookmarked them after poking the thing with sharp sticks repeatedly in the past.

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

I've made precisely one ebay sale. I weighed to item and a padded envelope together on the scales at work, which handily display what it'll cost.
Then I added some extra protection.... and it went up to the next postage charge, but I'd already done the ad...
So, be careful, and round it up a bit.
And even if you do nick the padded envelope from work, they don't know you didn't pay 50p for it.

[rmc28]

Definitely round-up for postage-and-packing-and-faff. I usually round up to the next pound, because I'm lazy, and so far it hasn't been a problem.