Mary Fisher ] said

"Owain" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
I send a lot of packets and parcels and it's frustrating. I've asked
Royal Mail about it but haven't had a satisfactory reply. I have to keep
a large stock of stamps which is quite an investment. The alternative is
to go to the post office several times a week which costs time and petrol
so is environmentally unfriendly. Most of our packets are small enough to
go into a pillar box but weigh more than 100g.

You could try Smartstamp from www.royalmail.com which allows you to print
postage labels online. It does cost 4.99 a month (or 49.99 a year) but
with the cost of petrol these days it might be worth it.

Thanks, but it's not worthwhile for us.

Mary




Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

Bert wrote:

Mary Fisher ] said

"Owain" wrote in message
...

Mary Fisher wrote:

I send a lot of packets and parcels and it's frustrating. I've asked
Royal Mail about it but haven't had a satisfactory reply. I have to keep
a large stock of stamps which is quite an investment. The alternative is
to go to the post office several times a week which costs time and petrol
so is environmentally unfriendly. Most of our packets are small enough to
go into a pillar box but weigh more than 100g.

You could try Smartstamp from www.royalmail.com which allows you to print
postage labels online. It does cost 4.99 a month (or 49.99 a year) but
with the cost of petrol these days it might be worth it.

Thanks, but it's not worthwhile for us.

Mary





Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

If you don't use the PO you don't get a postal certificate and no compo
should it go "missing".

--
Spider

In article ,
Will wrote:
I can't for the life of me see how the stamp values relate to any
usefulness based on the cost of sending a letter. But there must be
some sort of conection like this.

Stamps are added to a postal order to give an exact amount - not just used
for postage.

--
*A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Will" wrote in message
...
Why does the Royal Mail have all these weird and wonderful values for
single stamps?

I can't for the life of me see how the stamp values relate to any
usefulness based on the cost of sending a letter. But there must be
some sort of conection like this.

Can anyone work it out?

This page http://tinyurl.com/fpf9u shows the value of individual
stamps I can get from my post office are as follows:

1 pence
2
5
9
10
20
37
42
44
49
50
72

And thse pages is a list of charge bands for different weights of
first or second class post:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/j...9&catId=400028
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/j...0&catId=400028

What is the connection?

While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do this
stamps still "work" as 1st class?

Sparks...

Tony Polson wrote:
The stamp values also cover standard
rates for overseas postage, plus Parcelforce.

Ah.... arcelfarce...

The message
from Chris Hodges contains these words:

Postie sees 2nd class stamp, treats as 2nd class despite other stamps.
Which is annoying because a 1st + a 2nd isn't much more than the cost of
1st for 60-100g and beats queueing in the PO, but often gets treated as 2nd.

What I've found makes the biggest difference is printing the postcode
instead of hand writing it. Makes 2nd class letters arrive like 1st
class.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

"Bert" wrote in message
...




Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

I have quite a few poundsworth of stamps in stock. You only need very
slightly fewer than three 1st class ones for one pound ...

Mary

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:02:50 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:


showing the values of
combinations of 1st and 2nd, from which I pick a convenient value at or
just below the target.

Yes, but if you use a 2nd class stamps as part of a combination the whole
thing can be treated as second class :-(

Please explain.

Apparently there's a something on the stamps - I can't remember the words
but some smarty pants here will insert them. Photo something perhaps ... I
can't be bothered raking through the remaining grey cells :-)

If there are any stamps which display this 'code' on an envelope or packet
it will make the whole sum of the stamps, even if all the others are coded
as 1st class, be shunted into the 2nd class system.



Its a phosphur stripe.
The rates will be more complicated from August where instead of just
the weight, the size will also determine the cost.

Dave

"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

Apparently there's a something on the stamps - I can't remember the words
but some smarty pants here will insert them. Photo something perhaps ...
I
can't be bothered raking through the remaining grey cells :-)

If there are any stamps which display this 'code' on an envelope or
packet
it will make the whole sum of the stamps, even if all the others are
coded
as 1st class, be shunted into the 2nd class system.

At least, that's what I was told by Royal Mail.

If you hold stamps up so that light is reflected off them you can detect a
narrow band on 2nd class, and a broad band on others. However AIUI if the
sorting machinery, which uses this band of whatever it is to turn
envelopes
the right way up, detects one 2nd class stamp only it treats the item as
2nd
class, but if it detects a broad band, or more than one stamp, it treats
it
as 1st class.

I'd like to think so, but that's not what Royal Mail told me.

Mary

Peter

Steve Firth wrote:

On 6 Jun 2006 06:42:33 -0700, TheLastMinute wrote:

(e.g. it will cost more to post a A4 letter than a A5 letter the same
weight.)

Someone please tell me this is a (bad) joke.

It's a bad joke.

Meanwhile:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/c...diaId=21100324

Why should my standard-sized envelopes subsidises someone else's
over-sized ones anyway?

"Mike Barnes" wrote in message

Ah well, I was told exactly the opposite: that 1st and 2nd stamps count
at the going rate towards any service, including first class and air
mail. When I send small packets first class (an almost everyday
occurrence), I usually use 2nd class stamps and no 1st class stamps.
They get there very quickly, judging by my customer feedback.

Ah yes, but air mail is only one service so 2nd class stamps just count as
their face value for that.

As it happens there seems to be little difference between 1st and 2nd class
deliveries anyway ... but to maintain our reputation I always use 1st class
unless I'm told there's no hurry.

Mary

"Sparks" wrote in message
...



While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do this
stamps still "work" as 1st class?

Yes, if they say 1st class and not the price. I always buy a load of 1st and
2nd class stamps when the cost is going to rise.

Mary

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:03:30 UTC, "Sparks" wrote:

While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do this
stamps still "work" as 1st class?

Yes.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 19:52:06 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Will wrote:
I can't for the life of me see how the stamp values relate to any
usefulness based on the cost of sending a letter. But there must be
some sort of conection like this.

Stamps are added to a postal order to give an exact amount - not just used
for postage.

Not any more, they aren't.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

I send a lot of packets and parcels and it's frustrating. I've asked Royal
Mail about it but haven't had a satisfactory reply. I have to keep a large
stock of stamps which is quite an investment. The alternative is to go to
the post office several times a week which costs time and petrol so is
environmentally unfriendly. Most of our packets are small enough to go
into
a pillar box but weigh more than 100g.


Cant you get that thing on your computer where you print your own stamps to
whatever value you like?

I would look it up on the wibbly wobbnly way but NTL is having a blip at the
moment.


Tom

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:55:43 +1000, Tony Bryer
wrote:

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 12:51:05 +0100 Mary Fisher wrote :
What's worse are the special issue stamps - I call them 'fancy' stamps and
do like them but they have 1st, 2nd then jump to high values which don't
correspond to any real charges.

They correspond to rates for air mail letters

The basic set of four are the minimum values for 1st Class, 2nd Class,
Air Mail and Europe.
--
_______
+---------------------------------------------------+ |\\ //|
| Charles Ellson: | | \\ // |
+---------------------------------------------------+ | |
| // \\ |
Alba gu brath |//___\\|

Mary Fisher wrote:
"Owain" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:
I send a lot of packets and parcels and it's frustrating. I've asked
Royal Mail about it but haven't had a satisfactory reply. I have to
keep a large stock of stamps which is quite an investment. The
alternative is to go to the post office several times a week which
costs time and petrol so is environmentally unfriendly. Most of our
packets are small enough to go into a pillar box but weigh more
than 100g.

You could try Smartstamp from www.royalmail.com which allows you to
print postage labels online. It does cost 4.99 a month (or 49.99 a
year) but with the cost of petrol these days it might be worth it.

Thanks, but it's not worthwhile for us.

Mary

Mary, Royal Mail are launching a new product next Monday which I've been
heavily involved with.

I can't say too much at the moment, but watch this space, as I think it'll
suit you perfectly!

--
Neil
- www.neilmonk.com -
- Change the colour to Blue to email me -

Spider ] said
Bert wrote:

Mary Fisher ] said

"Owain" wrote in message
...

Mary Fisher wrote:

I send a lot of packets and parcels and it's frustrating. I've asked
Royal Mail about it but haven't had a satisfactory reply. I have to keep
a large stock of stamps which is quite an investment. The alternative is
to go to the post office several times a week which costs time and petrol
so is environmentally unfriendly. Most of our packets are small enough to
go into a pillar box but weigh more than 100g.

You could try Smartstamp from www.royalmail.com which allows you to print
postage labels online. It does cost 4.99 a month (or 49.99 a year) but
with the cost of petrol these days it might be worth it.

Thanks, but it's not worthwhile for us.

Mary





Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

If you don't use the PO you don't get a postal certificate and no compo
should it go "missing".

Indeed, but for some people the frequency with which their goods go
missing together with their relative value, does not make the time and
effort involved in going to the post office worthwhile.

"Neil Monk" wrote in message
. uk...


Mary, Royal Mail are launching a new product next Monday which I've been
heavily involved with.

I can't say too much at the moment, but watch this space, as I think it'll
suit you perfectly!

they send me updates of services, I can't wait!

yawn

:-)

Mary

Mary Fisher ] said

"Bert" wrote in message
...




Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

I have quite a few poundsworth of stamps in stock. You only need very
slightly fewer than three 1st class ones for one pound ...


So, use the stamps you have in stock and then buy some more.

They cost the same whether you buy them a week or two in advance or on a
daily basis you know. :-)

"David" wrote in message
...


Apparently there's a something on the stamps - I can't remember the words
but some smarty pants here will insert them. Photo something perhaps ...
I
can't be bothered raking through the remaining grey cells :-)

If there are any stamps which display this 'code' on an envelope or packet
it will make the whole sum of the stamps, even if all the others are coded
as 1st class, be shunted into the 2nd class system.



Its a phosphur stripe.

That's the one! A phosphor strip, thanks :-)

The rates will be more complicated from August where instead of just
the weight, the size will also determine the cost.

We always send the smallest pack we can so I doubt that we scould save
anythng but I'll be pleased if people stop sending huge envelopes with one
sheet of A4 in them. What a waste!

Mary

Joseph wrote:

The best thing about keeping a list of sellers who use Smartstamp is
when you know Christmas is going to be free this year thanks to
Paypal. Make sure to do some small £10-£20 orders with memorable
feedback before putting in for the Free £100+ mega order.

Christmas is going to be free thanks to paypal ?

Can anyone translate the above?
--
Mike

"Sparks" typed


While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do this
stamps still "work" as 1st class?

They will, yes.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Guy King typed


What I've found makes the biggest difference is printing the postcode
instead of hand writing it. Makes 2nd class letters arrive like 1st
class.

I believe the Royal Mail prefers Arial as a font.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"Bert" wrote in message
...


If you don't use the PO you don't get a postal certificate and no compo
should it go "missing".

Indeed, but for some people the frequency with which their goods go
missing together with their relative value, does not make the time and
effort involved in going to the post office worthwhile.

Quite right. If we send valuable goods (which also happen to be the ones too
big for the pillar box) we use SD, which on the whole we've found
worthwhile.

Mary

"Bert" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher ] said

"Bert" wrote in message
...




Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an
average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

I have quite a few poundsworth of stamps in stock. You only need very
slightly fewer than three 1st class ones for one pound ...


So, use the stamps you have in stock and then buy some more.

sigh

What makes you think we don't?

They cost the same whether you buy them a week or two in advance or on a
daily basis you know. :-)

Not if you buy dedicated 1st and 2nd class stamps before the price
increases.

Mary

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
Guy King typed


What I've found makes the biggest difference is printing the postcode
instead of hand writing it. Makes 2nd class letters arrive like 1st
class.

I believe the Royal Mail prefers Arial as a font.

Why do you believe that? It would be interesting to know what they prefer.

They don't use it, in my experience. They use TNR, as I do.

Mary

Mary Fisher ] said

"Bert" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher ] said

"Bert" wrote in message
...




Why not just keep a small stock of stamps and go to the post office as
infrequently as you can, just when you need to top up. Buying an
average
fortnight's worth of stamps ahead of time wouldn't cost any more than
you would spend in the next fortnight anyway and you would save a small
fortune in trips.

I have quite a few poundsworth of stamps in stock. You only need very
slightly fewer than three 1st class ones for one pound ...


So, use the stamps you have in stock and then buy some more.

sigh

What makes you think we don't?

They cost the same whether you buy them a week or two in advance or on a
daily basis you know. :-)

Not if you buy dedicated 1st and 2nd class stamps before the price
increases.

Good point. They are then cheaper in advance!

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:03:30 +0100, Sparks wrote:

While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do
this stamps still "work" as 1st class?

If they are NVI, ie marked "1st" not a monetary value yes they still work
as 1st class stamps.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 19:52:06 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Will wrote:
I can't for the life of me see how the stamp values relate to any
usefulness based on the cost of sending a letter. But there must be
some sort of conection like this.

Stamps are added to a postal order to give an exact amount - not
just used for postage.

Not any more, they aren't.

Explain?

Twas only last week I seen a pensioner in front of me in the post office
asking for a postal order to the sum of...
12GBP and 36p it was made up of a ten and two pound postal orders with the
36p in stamps affixed to the two pound postal order.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:17:57 +0100, Steve Firth wrote:

(e.g. it will cost more to post a A4 letter than a A5 letter the same
weight.)

Someone please tell me this is a (bad) joke.

Nope, they call it "Pricing in Proportion", comes in from 21st August
2006.

A "Letter" is no larger than 240 x 165 x 5 mm thick up to 100g.

A "Large Letter" is no larger than 353 x 250 x 25mm thick up to 750g.

If an item doesn't fit due to size or weight into the above it is a
"Packet".

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/c...diaId=21100324

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Bob Eager wrote:
On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 19:52:06 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Will wrote:
I can't for the life of me see how the stamp values relate to any
usefulness based on the cost of sending a letter. But there must be
some sort of conection like this.

Stamps are added to a postal order to give an exact amount - not
just used for postage.

Not any more, they aren't.

Explain?

Twas only last week I seen a pensioner in front of me in the post office
asking for a postal order to the sum of...
12GBP and 36p it was made up of a ten and two pound postal orders with the
36p in stamps affixed to the two pound postal order.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

It was not only last week - it must have been before (approx) 20 April.
Since then all postal orders are printed in the PO to the exact amount
you want.

In message
"Sparks" wrote:

[snip]

While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of 1st
class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases, do this
stamps still "work" as 1st class?


Yes

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

Chris Bacon wrote:
Tony Polson wrote:
The stamp values also cover standard
rates for overseas postage, plus Parcelforce.

Ah.... arcelfarce...

You can't use stamps for Parcelforce. That may well be a recent
development but you now just pay and get a receipt. A bar code goes on
the parcel by which it is tracked and accounted for and shows it has
been paid for - no postage label, no stamps. Parcelforce Worldwide are
about to introduce a similar system.

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...

I believe the Royal Mail prefers Arial as a font.

Why do you believe that? It would be interesting to know what they prefer.

From the 'Postal Address Book' (My copy is a bit out-of-date, but I don't
suppose they have changed this bit:
'Ideal fonts for our equipment are Courier, Courier New or Brougham. Other
fonts which have similar characteristics are Helvetica, Avant Garde or
Franklin Gothic as are Arial, Avalon and Frankfurt Gothic.'

Peter

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 20:54:30 GMT, "Mike Redrobe"
managed to type:

Joseph wrote:

The best thing about keeping a list of sellers who use Smartstamp is
when you know Christmas is going to be free this year thanks to
Paypal. Make sure to do some small £10-£20 orders with memorable
feedback before putting in for the Free £100+ mega order.

Christmas is going to be free thanks to paypal ?

Can anyone translate the above?

Yup .... buyer pays by PayPal .....

Seller uses SmartStamp to save tedious Post Office visits and just
drops stuff in the box.

No online trackable method.

Goods arrive.

Buyer claims 'no receipt'.

PayPal find in buyer's favour.

Buyer has goods and gets a refund as well.

Whoooooppeeeee! Free Christmas thanks to PayPal.
--
I’m not prejudiced; I dislike everyone equally.

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:13:08 UTC, "The3rd Earl Of Derby"
wrote:

Stamps are added to a postal order to give an exact amount - not
just used for postage.

Not any more, they aren't.

Explain?

OK, some backward areas may still use stamps. But not for long. They've
brought in a system where all POs are individually printed...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
Avenue Supplies, http://avenuesupplies.co.uk

Sparks wrote:

snip

While this thread is here, can someone tell me, if I have a load of
1st class stamps, then the price of the 1st class service increases,
do this stamps still "work" as 1st class?

Sparks...

Yes, they are still valid - provided they are marked as 1st and not
30p or whatever it is this week.

David
--
send mail to my alias at by, the published address is a spamtrap

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 20:12:22 +0100, "Peter Masson"
wrote:


"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
et...

Apparently there's a something on the stamps - I can't remember the words
but some smarty pants here will insert them. Photo something perhaps ...
I
can't be bothered raking through the remaining grey cells :-)

If there are any stamps which display this 'code' on an envelope or packet
it will make the whole sum of the stamps, even if all the others are coded
as 1st class, be shunted into the 2nd class system.

At least, that's what I was told by Royal Mail.

If you hold stamps up so that light is reflected off them you can detect a
narrow band on 2nd class, and a broad band on others. However AIUI if the
sorting machinery, which uses this band of whatever it is to turn envelopes
the right way up, detects one 2nd class stamp only it treats the item as 2nd
class, but if it detects a broad band, or more than one stamp, it treats it
as 1st class.

IIRC you're looking at the wrong bit on the 1st class stamp. Your
"broad band" is the space between the two bands, more easily seen if
you compare a strip of 1st class with a strip of 2nd class where the
former has a dull band down each side (or straddling two adjacent
stamps IYSWIM) and the latter has the dull band down the middle.
--
_______
+---------------------------------------------------+ |\\ //|
| Charles Ellson: | | \\ // |
+---------------------------------------------------+ | |
| // \\ |
Alba gu brath |//___\\|

Graeme Wall wrote:


There are phosphor strips on the stamps, one for 1st class, 2 for 2nd
class. An IR(?) detector counts the number of strips and sorts the
letters into the appropriate piles.

That'll be the lines in the queens face then?

By the way has anyone found the hitch hiker on a ten pence piece?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite