UK post rules in chaos as cost of sending cards & parcels varies across country

With Christmas less than a month away, the postal service is in total chaos. A Sunday Mirror investigation has revealed that the Royal Mail’s new charging system is proving a disaster.

Just three months after its new pricing structure was introduced and in the run-up to its busiest time of the year, we visited post offices around the country with a selection of cards and parcels – and were given an astonishing range of prices for the same items. For one item we were quoted THREE different prices – GBP1.27, 44p and 32p.

Another item – an ordinary Christmas card – cost GBP1 to post in Swansea while in Birmingham it cost just 32p to send it the same distance.

And the difference in price for one package was a huge GBP2.15.

With an estimated 750 million cards and parcels expected to be sent this Christmas, the confusion is bound to fuel customer anger.

And it is not only customers who are confused – we discovered that many post office staff were equally bewildered by the new price scheme.

Our reporters went to six post offices in cities across the UK – London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swansea and Edinburgh – with the same sized cards and packages to be sent first class to local addresses.

We were shocked at the inconsistency between post offices – and by the levels of confusion.

At a busy branch in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, for instance, tempers flared after people were forced to queue for more than 25 minutes.

One woman started shouting and had to be escorted out.

A postmaster told us: “Even I get confused. It can be pandemonium in here. Customers queue up for ages and then expect a quick service, but because of the new rules I have to check everything – and even I get confused.

“I need to check measurements and weigh every object. Then I need to check its ‘depth’ by seeing if it fits through a hole on the new measurement table. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some postmasters or mistresses just take a wild guess and get things wrong.”

To make matters worse, the Royal Mail will charge the recipient of an incorrectly priced card or package a GBP1 penalty ON TOP of the difference in the actual charge.

The new postal changes were introduced on August 21 this year. The old system was based on weight while the new system is supposed to reflect the size of the item as well as its weight.

Royal Mail bosses claimed the new rules reflected the costs of handling letters and packets in “modern postal systems”.

Ordinary post has been divided into three sizes: Letters – most small and medium envelopes up to half the size of A4′ large letters – most larger envelopes up to A4 size and packets – anything else.

So in order to tell which category your letter or parcel belongs to, you must now consider the size of the envelope, its thickness AND its weight. Post offices have measurement templates to help customers check the cost of their letter.

Royal Mail has spent millions trying to explain the changes to the public, but our investigation suggests its own postmasters and mistresses have yet to get to grips with the changes.

In the busy branch in London’s Hammersmith, grandmother Sheila Williams, 62, was in the queue to post a card.

“I don’t have a clue which card needs which stamp and how much I might need to pay,” she said.

“I am only sending a birthday card, but because of the new system I have had to queue to buy stamps. Usually I would choose between a first-class stamp and a second-class one and buy them in my local shop.”

Last night Royal Mail bosses refused to comment on our survey insisting: “This is a totally unrepresentative survey that gives a misleading result.”

But Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, looked at our findings and called the variation in prices “disappointing”.

“Customers expect and should receive clear and correct advice,” said a spokesman.

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