An Post Overcharging

madonno

I'm from Germany and find many things here in Ireland exceptionally dear. But An Post here in Gort is thight-fisted and I have the feeling they are even OVERCHARGING!

My sister sells a lot of stuff on ebay so they know her very well in the post office. They do NOT check the size of the envelope even if it appears to be slightly over the limit (not a small envelope anymore but a large one). It has been like this from day one not just because she's such a good customer. She recently sent a large envelope that was 10 or 15 gram over the limit but they STILL sent it just mentioning that it might not get through if they weigh it again at another point. She risked that and it was just fine.

Here in Gort it is a different story! After falsely being charged for a large envelope I made sure they do not do that again next time. They seem to be bothered if you ask them what makes it a large envelope rather than a small one. She took the envelope and went to a gauge or whatever and came back telling me (looking a little bit annoyed again) that it is at the limit.
FIRST: AT the limit is still WITHIN tolerance so DO NOT give me that look!
SECOND: If you already charge SO MUCH than it wouldn't hurt being more customer friendly!

But what REALLY freaks me out is this: I am pretty sure now that their scale is not correct! First I thought that our kitchen scale is probably not so accurate. But when a package weighed 255 gram instead of 230 gram (with our scale) I left and went to the post office in Ardrahan (on my way to work anyway). They don't have a fancy digital scale but that doesn't mean it's less accurate. And the pointer was clearly under 250 gram (probably in the 230 gram area). It cost me 3.35 € instead of 4.70 € which is 40% difference!

Here thew difference in postal rates:
Germany (to Ireland):
Packet up to 2 kg: 8.60 €
Parcel up to 5 kg: 17 €
Parcel up to 10 kg: 22 €
Parcel up to 20 kg: 32 €

Now Ireland (to Germany):
Packet up to 2 kg: 10.40 € (+ 20%) :cool:
Parcel up to 5 kg: 53 € (+ 211%) :eek:
Above 5 kg: Each Additional kg (max 20kg) 3 €
Parcel up to 10 kg: 53+(5*3) = 68 € (+209%) :eek:
Parcel up to 20 kg: 53+(15*3) = 98 € (+206%) :eek:

Rip Of Republic!!!

antoinolachtnai

You can contact metrology at NSAI and they may be able to suggest what to do if you think that An Post has inaccurate scales. In general terms, having an uncalibrated scales in a commercial context is a serious matter. You hear about sweet shops, pubs and petrol stations being hit on this, but not post offices so much.

Sending mail whilst deliberately not paying the correct postage could also be quite a serious matter.

madonno

antoinolachtnai wrote:

Sending mail whilst deliberately not paying the correct postage could also be quite a serious matter.

Well it's not that my sister in Germany gets 10% off every time. I don't think they can get in huge trouble when they send a package that is a lil bit over the limit. They send it back and that's it.

I have no clue why there is such a big difference in postal rates. Paying more than 3 times the postage on parcels can't be justified!

mcaul

All An Post parcels are sent by air and are delivered within 3 days. An Post are not very interested in international parcel delivery - their speciality is regular post. Similarly Deutch Post used to be dreadfuly expensive for sending parcels until they were bought by DHL and became part of a gigantic worldwide parcel corporation.

Best advice for parcels - use a parcel delivery company not a letter delivery company. - try GLS Parcel Shops - all over ireland www.gls-ireland.com (parcels to germany are €18 - €42 4-5 day service) or Interlink or DHL or UPS. And if you send regularly you may get discounts.


For a direct comparison (Rates from Deutsch Post website)

letter from Germany to ireland - 20g=70c 50g=1.00 100g=2.00
letter from ireland to germany - up to 100g = 78c

letter within germany (A5 Size) = 20g=55c, 50g=90c, 100g=1.45
letter within Ireland (A5 size) = up to 100g = 55c

So when it comes to letterpost - an post is clearly cheaper than Germany.

antoinolachtnai

Well, it depends on the size of letters. The typical letter is 20g or less, and so An Post is more expensive on average, i.e., for a given volume of mail (say a bag-full) An Post gets a lot more money than Deutsche.

Also, Germany is a much bigger country than Ireland. A very high proportion of mail in Ireland would go abroad compared to Germany. (I don't have figures for this but it stands to reason.)

pow wow

The staff are generally unhelpful in every post office I've been to anywhere in the world, not just Ireland. When I lived in America they would automatically quote the absolutely most expensive way to send something as the first option, which, if you didn't know the services available, meant you'd probably pay that higher rate.

parsi

You forgot to add in the transit times for the parcels:

Ireland > Germany 3-5 days,
Germany > Ireland 5-15+ days.