Warning on postage rates

Friday 16th December, 2011

As the Christmas postal rush continues, the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland ( SCOTSS ) are warning consumers that some Post Offices may be overcharging by up to 80% for the postage of letters and packets.

Trading Standards Officers carried out a project during November 2011, to check the prices being charged at a number of Post Offices across Scotland. These checks were carried out to ensure that consumers are being charged the correct price for the postage of letters and packets.

They checked a total of 47 Post Offices nationally, and found that 15% of these were overcharging. In the Stirling and Clackmannanshire areas 4 out of the 5 Post Offices checked overcharged for postage and the largest discrepancy was an overcharge of 80%, whereTrading Standards Officers were charged £1-96 in respect of a Packet which should have gone as Large Letter at £1-09.

Hugh Hamilton, Trading Standards Team Leader in Stirling & Clackmannanshire, advised that following changes implemented by Royal Mail in 2006, all letters and packets should now priced according to both size and weight. In order to calculate the price, all Post Offices should have size templates to enable counter staff to put items into a particular price category according to size, prior to being weighed. However, he reported that some Post Offices do not provide these size templates for customers use, and it would appear that some counter staff are guessing the size of letters and packets, rather than measuring them with the templates.

A total of 9 Local Authorities across Scotland took part in the project. Letters and packets of different sizes and weights were made up by Trading Standards Officers and then posted at local Post Offices. The items were designed to fall within a particular price band and highlight whether or not they were charged at the appropriate rate in relation to both size and weight.

Of the 47 Post Offices visited, only 20 of these had size templates available for customer use. Moreover, the majority of Post Offices had no pricing information displayed in-store. Taken together, these factors make it very difficult for customers to check whether or not they are being charged the correct price.

Consumers are advised to avoid using over-sized envelopes or packaging when sending items through the post, and to check pricing information on the Royal Mail website or to ask for this in-store. Consumers should also check the dimensions of their letters and packets before sending them using the Royal Mail size templates, or request that this is done by counter staff if one of these is not available for customer use.

In announcing these results, Neil Coltart, Chairman of SCOTSS, said: “Post Offices are a valuable asset to their communities and people need to have confidence that they will not be overcharged when posting items. The crucial factor in these failures appears to be the fact that some staff in Post Offices are not measuring letters or packets prior to charging customers. The inaccuracies we have detected tie in with the items being placed in higher, incorrect price bands. In addition, where there is no price information or template for customer use, it is difficult for the consumer to know or calculate the price independently.”