An Post office clerk charged me too much for postage

mrcheez

Today I sent out 20 bubble wrap envelopes.

The envelopes are C5, and no thicker than 5mm including the contents, so this is classified as "Letter/Postcard" according to their guidelines.

I only found out about this now as I felt the pricing was a bit steep. When purchasing the clerk charged me for 20 "Large Envelopes" at €2.50 each (instead of €1.35 each which the letter would have been), and I paid up even though I asked her to double check as it seemed a little high.

Do I go back to the office clerk, or contact An Post themselves?

I have photographic evidence of the letters I was sending out purely as a coincidence (luckily!). Plus the receipt.

west20s

Were you posting International Mail? How much did they weigh?

mrcheez

west20s wrote: »

Were you posting International Mail? How much did they weigh?

They weigh 62grams each. This is on the receipt and yes all international.

Letter postage is €1.35 anywhere in the world, or €2.50 anywhere in the world for the large envelope.

So I was charged 20 x €2.50 instead of what I should have been charged (20 x €1.35)

mrcheez

So do I contact An Post directly or try to go back to the office to argue my case?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Would bubble wrap envelopes, when filled, not exceed the 5mm depth allowed for small envelope?

west20s

In the post offices the have an aid which has all the dimensions for packets large envelopes and includes a slot for standard envelopes.
If it doesn't fit in the slot its classed as a large envelope. I would struggle to see any bubble wrap envelope fitting through the 5mm slot (unless the bubbles were popped) even if it was empty.
But if you have one of the envelopes still and are sure I would go back to the post office and speak to someone there, manager maybe, with receipt, I'm sure they will look after you, human error, it happens.

mrcheez

I measured them and the bubbles must be pretty small as it comes to pretty much 5mm filled. I'd say a lot of letter envelopes in fact exceed the depth of the ones I sent if they contain more than 3 folded a4 sheets.

I'll go back to the clerk and see.

I'm pretty sure the depth is determined as what it is when compressed since the idea is that you dont want to take up too much space when crushed alongside other envelopes.

Shelflife

A bubble wrap envelope won’t fit through the std mail aperture.

€2.50 would be the correct price.

mrcheez

Shelflife wrote: »

A bubble wrap envelope won’t fit through the std mail aperture.

€2.50 would be the correct price.

Im assuming they have the apertures at the post office to measure?

If not, and the clerk doesn't agree, i'm guessing there's a way of contacting An Post directly regarding queries.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A C5 bubble wrap is deeper than 5mm. €2.50 was correct.

Shelflife

mrcheez wrote: »

Im assuming they have the apertures at the post office to measure?

If not, and the clerk doesn't agree, i'm guessing there's a way of contacting An Post directly regarding queries.

Yeah theres a template in every Post Office so that every one conforms to the same standard

mrcheez

Shelflife wrote: »

Yeah theres a template in every Post Office so that every one conforms to the same standard

Cool. Clearly I got cheap bubble wrap envelopes as mine are around 3mm empty and 5mm filled :pac:

amtc

Sent you pm

mrcheez

Hallie White Geese wrote: »

A C5 bubble wrap is deeper than 5mm. €2.50 was correct.

So turns out €2.50 is not correct

Shelflife wrote: »

Yeah theres a template in every Post Office so that every one conforms to the same standard

The template worked well, and it was a perfect fit for letter/postcard even with the contents in the envelope. I've also been informed there is a built in tolerance of 2mm at top and bottom so if it's a perfect fit in the template, it should be easily able to fit the requirements.

Anyway manager is there next Thursday but I've contacted AnPost about a refund in the meantime.

Shelflife

Let us know how you get on.

CeilingFly

mrcheez wrote: »

So turns out €2.50 is not correct



The template worked well, and it was a perfect fit for letter/postcard even with the contents in the envelope. I've also been informed there is a built in tolerance of 2mm at top and bottom so if it's a perfect fit in the template, it should be easily able to fit the requirements.

Anyway manager is there next Thursday but I've contacted AnPost about a refund in the meantime.

the 2mm tolerance is on the minimum size (length & width), not max size (e.g. tolerance does not allow you send a 7mm depth, though it normally would get through if you just put it in the post box)


Always best to work out the rate yourself and simply ask for 20 x €xx stamps.

I usually send 30mm depth as large envelope, and 9 years later, still not one returned.