The angry thread

[Jack]

Instead of whistling while at work you could always hum..... I'm sorry I'll get my coat

[Newportnobby]

Very annoyed tonight to hear/see Natasha Kaplinski on the 6pm news say (and I'm not sure how to spell this) - burgalry.
It's burglary, dear woman, B-U-R-G-L-A-R-Y!

[GerryB]

Couldn't agree more - makes you wonder what hope there is for our language when somebody in her position  gets it so wrong.   

Gerry

[scotsoft]

I found a blue postcard from the post office had been pushed through my letterbox today.
It turns out someone has sent me something with insufficient postage on it.
I have no idea what it is as I am expecting a few wins from eBay 
Had to cough up £1.50 to have it delivered and that may take a few days 
This is going to niggle me till whatever it is arrives 

[Pengi]

It could be a Christmas card that exceeded the minimum thickness for that postage rate. Has happened to me on a few occasions - really annoying, paying postage and handling fee for something like that.

[MikeDunn]

It could be a Christmas card

It could be revenge for that       joke !

[Tank]

I found a blue postcard from the post office had been pushed through my letterbox today.
It turns out someone has sent me something with insufficient postage on it.
I have no idea what it is as I am expecting a few wins from eBay 
Had to cough up £1.50 to have it delivered and that may take a few days 
This is going to niggle me till whatever it is arrives 

I had exactly the same thing.  A card came through saying an envelope was 9p short, and I would have to pay £1.09.  I couldn't think what it was.  I wouldn't have minded so much if I could have handed the postman the money and would have been given my letter, but those days are long gone and I had to wait a couple of days.  It turned out to be my Class 207 cab ends from BH Enterprises.

[kaiwhara]

The cynic on me makes me wonder why Postal Instutitions bother to deliver crap like that when the cost to produce and deliver said card probably costs more than the 9p or 20 cents they are after!!!

[Pengi]

Don't get me started about the Post Office. Spend 10 minutes in a queue and when I got to the counter, I was asked if I wanted a credit card, life assurance etc etc. when all I wanted was to post my parcel.

However, I've now been informed that selling credit cards and life assurance is now their core business. I now use a village post office (bit further away) so I don't get all this nonsense.

[thebrighton]

The cynic on me makes me wonder why Postal Instutitions bother to deliver crap like that when the cost to produce and deliver said card probably costs more than the 9p or 20 cents they are after!!!

Because the changes to sizes etc came in around 3 years ago and people still just stick a first class stamp on anything and I'm not just talking about a few people! Eastborne sorting office receives over 150 items a day with insufficient postage. Sure some are 9p but many are far more. Multiply that over the country every day and it soon adds up. Where do you suggest the shortfall be cut off and, if for instance it is 5p, people would soon find out and send everything short of 5p. So, in short, even if the extra work it causes us doesn't cover 9p it does pay to recover our costs in the long term.
The worst culprits this time of year though are all those busy making home made cards adding multy layers and just assuming a 1st class stamp will do. The mother in law did it last year despite me warning her so the whole family had to pay for their own cards!
Gareth

[zwilnik]

The reason the original penny post was such a good idea was that it solved the problem of calculating how much post each type of letter needed. I don't think the big changes 3 years ago to make the post even more confusing were a good idea. I can see why the post office did it. First class post isn't profitable, but charging the amount needed for a one stamp for all sizes first class stamp to make a profit was probably too much of a jump. End result, worst of both worlds. Nobody knows what to stick on a letter and the price goes up anyway (and the Post Office is still losing money).

As a commercial entity, the postal service isn't that relevant nowadays when it's competing against services such as email that are free, faster and more reliable for the bulk of communications that used to make a simple letter post profitable. We still *need* a reliable postal service though as some stuff just needs to be physically mailed and isn't worth being couriered and some people still don't have internet access. Maybe it's like the railways in that it's a vital part of the UK infrastructure that shouldn't necessarily be there to make a profit (ie nationalise it).

On the Christmas card front, I'd simply make it a 1st class stamp for all Christmas cards (big or small) within a reasonable size & weight, just to remind people it's worth buying stamps. (I only seem to end up with Christmas stamps as I only buy about one pack a year).

[Bikeracer]

Our post seems to comprise of about 30% junk mail such as advertising flyers and letters addressed to "The Householder".

Allan

[Jack]

Our post seems to comprise of about 30% junk mail such as advertising flyers and letters addressed to "The Householder".

Allan

Sadly this "helps" keep the cost of sending a letter at a "sensible" price. Part of the cost of opening up the postal system to all such as the German Bundaspost (DHL) et al., and electronic forms of mail. I hate to think what the cost would be without all the junk mail we get!

[Newportnobby]

Our post seems to comprise of about 30% junk mail such as advertising flyers and letters addressed to "The Householder".

Allan

If it's addressed to the Householder and it has a return address, I just return it

[thebrighton]

[/quote]

If it's addressed to the Householder and it has a return address, I just return it
[/quote]
What you should do is see if it has a prepaid envelope in it and return that. It costs them money then!
Gareth