How much?????

[Rhyd6]

Went to buy some stamps today and had the shock of my life. 13/5d for a first class stamp!! I know that it's not advisable to convert into old money, especially if you've got a dicky ticker, but 13/5d was almost two thirds of my first wage packet! As most of my friends are contactable by email or shank's pony I don't think I shall bother sending any cards this year.

R6

[swill453]

Bargain of the century. Get a physical thing transported hundreds of miles across the country, possibly hand-delivered 10 miles down a single-track dead-end road in the Highlands. All for a fifth of the cost of a cup of coffee!

Scott.

[bungeejumper]

Bargain of the century. Get a physical thing transported hundreds of miles across the country, possibly hand-delivered 10 miles down a single-track dead-end road in the Highlands. All for a fifth of the cost of a cup of coffee!

You're spending too much on coffee.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

Commiserations, R6. Yes, the last time I bought a couple of books of stamps in Sainsburys, I was mildly miffed to find that the twenty pound note I was waving at the cashier wasn't going to be enough.

OTOH, I found out just how cheaply it can be really done a few years ago, when I ordered a 60p length of curtain cord from Ebay, including free postage.(A UK vendor, allegedly.)

I admit that I was a little bit peeved when the envelope didn't arrive within the usual three or four days. But when it finally dropped onto my doormat two weeks later, it became apparent that it had been wrapped and posted in China; that somebody had completed the customs declaration in full; that it had been shipped along with a larger consignment of goods to Uruguay ; that somebody else had completed another set of Uruguayan customs documents so as to send it over the Atlantic; and that it had duly come in via Heathrow before customs clearance so that the Post Office could complete the final couple of laps to my front door.

Just how anybody can make a profit on a consignment like that is beyond me. They certainly don't have that problem in France, where a postcard to London now costs €1.20 - comfortably on the wrong side of a quid. The next time I need to send out a batch of Christmas cards, I'm going to have them collected by a Chinese courier and then re-posted from Shanghai, via Patagonia. It ought to save me a fortune.

BJ

[swill453]

You're spending too much on coffee.

To be honest, I'm neither buying cups of coffee nor posting letters to remote places in Scotland.

Scott.

[Sussexlad]

Look on Ebay for unfranked stamps? Apparently RM managers have told staff not to bother if they spot them !

[Rhyd6]

Sussexlad, someone did mention the sale of stamps on ebay but knowing my luck they'd turn out to be Peruvian Penny Blacks

It's funny how you don't seem to notice price rises on everyday items but it really hits home when something you only buy occasionally seems to have gone through the roof. C'est la vie.

R6

[AleisterCrowley]

Look on Ebay for unfranked stamps? Apparently RM managers have told staff not to bother if they spot them !

How would one spot an unfranked stamp ?! Glue squeezing out ?

[Lootman]

Went to buy some stamps today and had the shock of my life. 13/5d for a first class stamp!! I know that it's not advisable to convert into old money, especially if you've got a dicky ticker, but 13/5d was almost two thirds of my first wage packet! As most of my friends are contactable by email or shank's pony I don't think I shall bother sending any cards this year.

Christmas cards should be sent second class.

You know I still think in miles, yards and feet, gallons and pints, pounds and ounces, even acres and furlongs. And I still think that the metric system is a French conspiracy to undermine everything that is good and right with the world.

But old money? Come on, nobody is that anachronistic. And everyone knows that 13/5 is 644 farthings.

[BobbyD]

OTOH, I found out just how cheaply it can be really done a few years ago, when I ordered a 60p length of curtain cord from Ebay, including free postage.(A UK vendor, allegedly.)

I admit that I was a little bit peeved when the envelope didn't arrive within the usual three or four days. But when it finally dropped onto my doormat two weeks later, it became apparent that it had been wrapped and posted in China; that somebody had completed the customs declaration in full; that it had been shipped along with a larger consignment of goods to Uruguay ; that somebody else had completed another set of Uruguayan customs documents so as to send it over the Atlantic; and that it had duly come in via Heathrow before customs clearance so that the Post Office could complete the final couple of laps to my front door.

Just how anybody can make a profit on a consignment like that is beyond me. They certainly don't have that problem in France, where a postcard to London now costs €1.20 - comfortably on the wrong side of a quid. The next time I need to send out a batch of Christmas cards, I'm going to have them collected by a Chinese courier and then re-posted from Shanghai, via Patagonia. It ought to save me a fortune.

BJ

The UPU sets shipping rates for international mail in a way that guarantees lower prices for shipments from developing economies and higher rates for those from advanced economies. This discrepancy has increasingly risen up the agenda of White House economic officials, particularly Peter Navarro, Mr Trump’s hawkish adviser on trade.

Lower costs for developing economies mean Chinese retailers can sell small goods such as phone chargers in the US for less than domestic retailers can. The price for a 4.4lb package shipped from one US state to another is $19-$23, while China Post pays $5 to ship it anywhere in the US, according to the US Postal Service. It lost more than $135m handling imports from across the world in 2016.

https://www.ft.com/content/a1233f3e-d21 ... 74db66bcd5

[marronier]

Never mind. Console yourself that petrol is 15% cheaper ( pro rata) today than 50 years ago. We use a lot more of that than stamps. Also VAT is less than half the purchase tax rate in the '60's.

[Clitheroekid]

I'm still using stamps I bought in April 2012.

I recall reading that as from the end of April 2012 the price of 1st class stamps was increasing from 46p to 60p, and that for 2nd class stamps from 36p to 50p - increases of 30% and 39% respectively.

In those days I still used a fair amount of stamps, and I realised that if I bought my usual quantity - around £100 worth - I'd be paying massively more for my next lot.

I also realised that there was nowhere I could invest my hard-earned that would give me a guaranteed 30% return, let alone a 39% return within a matter of days!

So I went off to the local Post Office and queued at the counter until my turn, then calmly asked for 3,000 1st class stamps and 2,000 2nd class - a total outlay of £2,100!

Somewhat to my surprise they were able to supply them all, and a few days later my modest investment was `worth' £2,800, possibly the best return I've ever made on an investment.

And an added bonus was the expression on the faces of the counter assistants and those behind me in the queue!