The Inner Workings of An Post?

StrawberryJazz

So over the past month Ive sent out about 40 A4 envelopes, literally as thin as paper (only 2 sheets in the envelope)
I thought this constituted for a "letter" and so assigned them 55 cent stamps.
Groups of these letters were sent out on different days at different locations.
I have received responses from the recipients from ALL the batches.

Does this mean their charge of 95 cent is actually just an post chancing their arm or is there a discretionary grey area around weight? I would really like to know, as there is a huge difference in the price and I have more to post....:)

MOH

Officially, that's Large Envelope rather than a Letter.

Though I never realised that - I've always sent A4 envelopes with a couple of sheets on the 55c stamp. AFAIK they've always arrived

Shelflife

Post is measured by weight and size, a4 envelope under 100g is 95c over 100g is €1.35 up to the next level which is 250g i think.

some will slip through but they are cracking down on "revenue protection" at the moment.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The bottom line is that you put the wrong postage on these. You should be glad they delivered those that they did. A4 is not a standard letter. :rolleyes:

StrawberryJazz

Paisleigh Melted Lace wrote: »

The bottom line is that you put the wrong postage on these. You should be glad they delivered those that they did. A4 is not a standard letter. :rolleyes:

I totally get that and was prepared to go find my undelivered mail
BUT
The fact still remains that 40 A4 letters "slipped through" the system....on 4 different occasions...

What am I to think? Why would I pay almost double when there seems to be some secret policy to allow them to be delievered

dub45

StrawberryJazz wrote: »

I totally get that and was prepared to go find my undelivered mail
BUT
The fact still remains that 40 A4 letters "slipped through" the system....on 4 different occasions...

What am I to think? Why would I pay almost double when there seems to be some secret policy to allow them to be delievered

"what am I to think?"

Are you really serious? Many people get away with not paying their fare on the luas or a lesser fare than perhaps they should. Similarly with Dublin bus you throw a load of change into the cash receptacle and ask for a particular fare or maybe just say a fare that is lesser than you should be paying. Is there a secret policy to let people travel for free or for less than they should be paying?

Its very simple: the cost of checking every person individually (or every envelope individually) would be astronomical and presumably result in slower service times. So companies have to trust their customers - simple as that.

I would be surprised if there isn't a clause somewhere which holds you liable to pay the proper charge once you accept the service by handing your envelopes over. There certainly was a time where the recipient was held reliable for under paid postage and charged accordingly.

You were lucky enough to save a few bob and you accuse a company of a "secret policy":rolleyes:

"what am I to think?"

Maybe of dropping down to your local post office and paying up?

StrawberryJazz

dub45 wrote: »

"what am I to think?"

Are you really serious? Many people get away with not paying their fare on the luas or a lesser fare than perhaps they should. Similarly with Dublin bus you throw a load of change into the cash receptacle and ask for a particular fare or maybe just say a fare that is lesser than you should be paying. Is there a secret policy to let people travel for free or for less than they should be paying?

Its very simple: the cost of checking every person individually (or every envelope individually) would be astronomical and presumably result in slower service times).

I would be surprised if there isn't a clause somewhere which holds you liable to pay the proper charge once you accept the service by handing your envelopes over. There certainly was a time where the recipient was held reliable for under paid postage and charged accordingly.

You were lucky enough to save a few bob and you accuse a company of a "secret policy":rolleyes:

"what am I to think?"

Maybe of dropping down to your local post office and paying up?

Wait - are you serious?

Ok to be completely honest, if I got on the Luas and the conductor attendant said I could travel for half the fare I totally would! Unlike skipping fare the people of an post have the option of delivering my mail. I presume it goes through several hands to reach its destination - thus giving several people the opportunity to hold on to my letter until I claim it once undelivered.

Do I feel morally obligated to pay more money? Not really considering my mail is lighter and takes up less space than a small envelope stuffed to the brim. The pricing doesn't make any sense. If an post aren't going to enforce their pricing at all, why should I pay the higher price. Either way a 25g letter is being posted in some way, shape or form. Why should it matter that I don't fold up my paper into a smaller envelope.

Hows the weather up there on your high horse?

dub45

StrawberryJazz wrote: »

Wait - are you serious?

Ok to be completely honest, if I got on the Luas and the conductor attendance said I could travel for half the fare I totally would! Unlike skipping fare the people of an post have the option of delivering my mail. I presume it goes through several hands to reach its destination - thus giving several people the opportunity to hold on to my letter until I claim it once undelivered.

Do I feel morally obligated to pay more money? Not really considering my mail is lighter and takes up less space than a small envelope stuffed to the brim. The pricing doesn't make any sense. If an post aren't going to enforce their pricing at all, why should I pay the hire price. Either way a 25g letter is being posted in some way, shape or form. Why should it matter that I don't fold up my paper into a smaller envelope.

Hows the weather up there on your high horse?

If you don't accept the price of a good or service then you have the choice not to purchase it. It's that simple.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

I will give you an example on the other end. A company we deal with were selling off some games they were stuck with. They had hawked them around a bit to retaillers before deciding to sell them off cheap on sites like ebay / playtrade etc.

They ended up with bags of games going out - all as large envelopes over 100g in weight which would have cost €1.35 to Ireland or €3.00 to the UK. They sent a few out at full price and then decided to send some out priced at €0.95 and €1.50 (being the price of an under 100g game) These they mixed in with the others thinking that it would be cheaper to send them that way and chances of An Post checking them were slim.

They were right ! First few envelopes went through without a hitch, ultimately they started sending out full mail bags of games priced incorrectly and told us we were foolish at Gamesnash for costing everything out properly.

Then it happened - they suddenly had 3 full mail sacks arrive back to them as being under declared. Not only that but all the stamps had been cancelled out meaning they had to resend them at full value wiping out the savings previously made and in the long run costing them more.

They now make a point of properly weighing and stamping everything they send. Moral of my story here is just because you get away with it 40 times or more doesn't mean it won't come back and bite you on the next 40. It's a bit of a gamble.

dxhound2005

From the An Post website.

An Post processes up to 3 million items daily. About 90 per cent of these are delivered the following working day, 99 per cent are delivered within 48 hours.
A post person’s delivery is spread over the course of the day, usually between 8am & 4pm. The time your mail is delivered generally depends on whether your address lies at the beginning or end of the route.


The imperative is to allow customers to post as late in the day as possible and still achieve next day delivery. Everyone is under pressure to get collections in and get them on the road to Mail Centres. In this scenario revenue protection can take a back seat and it's not too surprising that your 40 envelopes got through. In the end it is up to people to pay the proper price and most people do.

The pricing used to be on weight only but An Post changed to bring themselves into line with international practice. This did not happen a lifetime ago and there is still a hangover from the old system.

Kenny Logins

Gamesnash.ie: Pat wrote: »

I will give you an example on the other end. A company we deal with were selling off some games they were stuck with. They had hawked them around a bit to retaillers before deciding to sell them off cheap on sites like ebay / playtrade etc.

They ended up with bags of games going out - all as large envelopes over 100g in weight which would have cost €1.35 to Ireland or €3.00 to the UK. They sent a few out at full price and then decided to send some out priced at €0.95 and €1.50 (being the price of an under 100g game) These they mixed in with the others thinking that it would be cheaper to send them that way and chances of An Post checking them were slim.

They were right ! First few envelopes went through without a hitch, ultimately they started sending out full mail bags of games priced incorrectly and told us we were foolish at Gamesnash for costing everything out properly.

Then it happened - they suddenly had 3 full mail sacks arrive back to them as being under declared. Not only that but all the stamps had been cancelled out meaning they had to resend them at full value wiping out the savings previously made and in the long run costing them more.

They now make a point of properly weighing and stamping everything they send. Moral of my story here is just because you get away with it 40 times or more doesn't mean it won't come back and bite you on the next 40. It's a bit of a gamble.

I have seen this too, although through genuine error rather than an attempt to cheat the system. All envelopes were returned with the stamps destroyed, and this was noted as policy to cover the cost of processing and returning the incorrectly stamped mail.

foggy_lad

StrawberryJazz wrote: »

Why would I pay almost double when there seems to be some secret policy to allow them to be delievered

To ensure your items are not returned to you with the stamps cancelled for paying incorrect postage, there is no secret policy!

StrawberryJazz

foggy_lad wrote: »

To ensure your items are not returned to you with the stamps cancelled for paying incorrect postage, there is no secret policy!

So thats a no on the secret policy then :P

Either an post has carefully infiltrated Boards or this is a genuine issue they have to consider.

In the meantime, I'll just use a smaller envelope

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

StrawberryJazz wrote: »

Either an post has carefully infiltrated Boards or this is a genuine issue they have to consider.

Yes it certainly is a issue. They need to start returning all post with insufficient postage and if no return address is given then just dump it if unclaimed after a period, as to investigate who the sender was is too costly.

dxhound2005

Paisleigh Melted Lace wrote: »

Yes it certainly is a issue. They need to start returning all post with insufficient postage and if no return address is given then just dump it if unclaimed after a period, as to investigate who the sender was is too costly.

But then people would start ringing Liveline. I remember this guy being outraged by An Post applying it's policy properly and of course Joe was outraged as well on his behalf.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/2011-10-11.html