Alarm at how services run increases yearly

I had occasion to travel to a local post office (you know, one of those within the precincts of another business, in this case a local supermarket). It hasn’t been open long so I thought I would give it a try. On first entering I was met by a queue of people, who I thought were waiting to pay for their supermarket goods. I was wrong.

A very polite lady at the front explained that they were waiting to get served at the Post Office.

Quite naively I asked what the hold-up was. Oh, we’re waiting for the person to turn up was her reply. When this person eventually turned up, she explained she had felt hungry and had gone out for a take-away.

When I finally got to the front of the queue and my parcel was weighed, the parcel weighed in at a staggering 2.25kg, which meant they couldn’t accept it as for some reason that Post Office wasn’t allowed to accept parcels over 2kg. I wasn’t happy.

I wandered down to Killamarsh Post Office, where a very helpful lady weighed my parcel and it came to the same weight. She then said, the cheapest price I can do on my parcel was £14.95, because of the extra 0.25kg of weight. She explained that if I could re-pack the parcel and get it down to 2kg it could be sent for £2.95.

This was a helpful suggestion but I explained that I had used all the packaging that was originally sent.

She then said perhaps I could contact the sender, explain the situation and they might collect it and I may save some money. This turned out to be an excellent suggestion, as this is what I have done.

My other reason for writing is to express my disgust at Royal Mail, not just for the lack of customer consideration at my first place of contact (presumably the Royal Mail can’t control all aspects of their franchise arrangements), but at the exorbitant rise in price to cover an increase of a mere 0.25kg.

Is this yet another example of rip-off Britain?

Now I accept that the Royal Mail, as a business carrying parcels at different weights has to cover costs and make a profit, but surely an increase of £12 between the lowest rate and the next is nothing short of a scandal. I expect to pay more for a heavier parcel to be carried but not that much.

My alarm at which some of the services in this country are being run increases with every year.

R Cundy

S20