Postage

On 2014-03-02 19:56:32 -0600, S Viemeister said:

On 3/2/2014 8:47 PM, James Silverton wrote:
On 3/2/2014 6:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
On 2014-02-28 9:58 AM, S Viemeister wrote:
On 2/28/2014 9:55 AM, James Silverton wrote:
It's perhaps OT but the British Royal mail is to raise the price of a
1oz first class stamp to GBP 0.62. That's USD 1.03 and makes the US
first class stamp at USD 0.49 sound like a bargain.

Royal Mail was recently privatised...

That's can't be. Privatization means competition and efficiency and it
automatically leads to lower costs to the consumer.

If there were more than one competing delivery services that might be
true but the Mail still seems to be a monopoly.

No, it's no longer a monopoly -
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/business/worldbusiness/30iht-ukpost.html

Poor Royal Mail is also asking for a 2B GBP "investment" and is
contending with a pension scheme set up in the environment of a
monopoly. The USPS has a similar challenge.

--
Dan Stephenson
http://stepheda.com
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030220225588004-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-03-02 03:08:04 -0600, tim..... said:

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030120331869307-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-02-28 08:58:42 -0600, S Viemeister said:

On 2/28/2014 9:55 AM, James Silverton wrote:
It's perhaps OT but the British Royal mail is to raise the price of a
1oz first class stamp to GBP 0.62. That's USD 1.03 and makes the US
first class stamp at USD 0.49 sound like a bargain.

Royal Mail was recently privatised...

And now only people who send mail pay the price, rather than it coming
from the general tax base. Cool!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Actually, it returned a surplus to HMG most years so the tax payer did not
subsidise people who wanted to post letter.

And now I'll guess that you're going to ask why did privatisation (or the
preparations for privatisation) make the prices jump up so much.

Well that'll be because as a private entity it can't be seen to be given a
monopoly and competition had to be allowed

and, predictably, the competition picks off all of the easy to
collect/deliver, individually, profitable post leaving the RM with all of
the hard to collect/deliver, individually loss making post. So in effect
there is no longer a cross subsidy from bulk mail to domestic mail, or
from urban areas to rural area

be careful what you wish for

tim

So it costs more to deliver mail to the remote, hard-to-reach areas.
You get what you pay for. Who says it should cost the same amount no
matter the destination.

-----------------------------------------------------------

ITYF it's what the population would prefer - it's called democracy

tim



--
Dan Stephenson
http://stepheda.com
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 3/3/2014 3:44 PM, tim..... wrote:


"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030220225588004-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-03-02 03:08:04 -0600, tim..... said:

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030120331869307-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-02-28 08:58:42 -0600, S Viemeister said:

On 2/28/2014 9:55 AM, James Silverton wrote:
It's perhaps OT but the British Royal mail is to raise the price of a
1oz first class stamp to GBP 0.62. That's USD 1.03 and makes the US
first class stamp at USD 0.49 sound like a bargain.

Royal Mail was recently privatised...

And now only people who send mail pay the price, rather than it coming
from the general tax base. Cool!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Actually, it returned a surplus to HMG most years so the tax payer did
not subsidise people who wanted to post letter.

And now I'll guess that you're going to ask why did privatisation (or
the preparations for privatisation) make the prices jump up so much.

Well that'll be because as a private entity it can't be seen to be
given a monopoly and competition had to be allowed

and, predictably, the competition picks off all of the easy to
collect/deliver, individually, profitable post leaving the RM with all
of the hard to collect/deliver, individually loss making post. So in
effect there is no longer a cross subsidy from bulk mail to domestic
mail, or from urban areas to rural area

be careful what you wish for

tim

So it costs more to deliver mail to the remote, hard-to-reach areas.
You get what you pay for. Who says it should cost the same amount no
matter the destination.

-----------------------------------------------------------

ITYF it's what the population would prefer - it's called democracy


The "penny post" to anywhere in the UK was a revolutionary idea as was
the comparable US postage rate. I really would be sad to see uniform
pricing die. I think any private company that takes over mail delivery
should be required to have such pricing and to deliver to *all* communities.


--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

"James Silverton" wrote in message ...

On 3/3/2014 3:44 PM, tim..... wrote:


"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030220225588004-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-03-02 03:08:04 -0600, tim..... said:

"Dan Stephenson" wrote in message
news:2014030120331869307-stephedanospam@maccom...

On 2014-02-28 08:58:42 -0600, S Viemeister said:

On 2/28/2014 9:55 AM, James Silverton wrote:
It's perhaps OT but the British Royal mail is to raise the price of a
1oz first class stamp to GBP 0.62. That's USD 1.03 and makes the US
first class stamp at USD 0.49 sound like a bargain.

Royal Mail was recently privatised...

And now only people who send mail pay the price, rather than it coming
from the general tax base. Cool!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Actually, it returned a surplus to HMG most years so the tax payer did
not subsidise people who wanted to post letter.

And now I'll guess that you're going to ask why did privatisation (or
the preparations for privatisation) make the prices jump up so much.

Well that'll be because as a private entity it can't be seen to be
given a monopoly and competition had to be allowed

and, predictably, the competition picks off all of the easy to
collect/deliver, individually, profitable post leaving the RM with all
of the hard to collect/deliver, individually loss making post. So in
effect there is no longer a cross subsidy from bulk mail to domestic
mail, or from urban areas to rural area

be careful what you wish for

tim

So it costs more to deliver mail to the remote, hard-to-reach areas.
You get what you pay for. Who says it should cost the same amount no
matter the destination.

-----------------------------------------------------------

ITYF it's what the population would prefer - it's called democracy


The "penny post" to anywhere in the UK was a revolutionary idea as was
the comparable US postage rate. I really would be sad to see uniform
pricing die. I think any private company that takes over mail delivery
should be required to have such pricing and to deliver to *all* communities.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Such a requirement has no effect in practice if there is an (ex) monopoly
service who prices are regulated.

All the competing service has to do is deliver the profitable stuff
themselves and then stick a stamp on the rest and put it in the local post
box

tim

On 3/1/2014 4:54 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Sat, 01 Mar 2014 13:55:30 -0500, James Silverton
wrote:

On 3/1/2014 1:15 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:11:12 +0100, Tom P wrote:

Standard size letter in Germany now costs 70 Euro cents since beginning
of the year.

No.

Well, what does the stamp for a "standard size letter" cost in Germany?

It's 60 cent (up to 20 grams) now after 58 in 2013 and 55 during several
years before 2013. International letters cost 75 cent (unchanged since
some years).


OK, a US ounce is 28g, so the US letter rate is USD 0.49 or 66 euro
cents; fairly comparable to Germany but the international rate to Europe
from the US for one ounce is USD 1.15; a bit more than the 75 Euro cents
you quote which would be USD 1.03.

The circular US "Global Stamp" for international postage is also a
"forever stamp" They are circular. It's hard to see which way is up but
it doesn't seem to matter unlike years ago in Britain where I believe an
upside down stamp was reason for a return to sender!

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

In article , says...

On 2014-02-28 9:58 AM, S Viemeister wrote:
On 2/28/2014 9:55 AM, James Silverton wrote:
It's perhaps OT but the British Royal mail is to raise the price of a
1oz first class stamp to GBP 0.62. That's USD 1.03 and makes the US
first class stamp at USD 0.49 sound like a bargain.

Royal Mail was recently privatised...

That's can't be. Privatization means competition and efficiency and it
automatically leads to lower costs to the consumer.

You must be joking. The market does not solve all problems as our Tea Party
people seem to think.

--
Jerry Bank
Trenton, New Jersey
Music is the language of the gods.

"James Silverton" wrote in message ...

On 3/1/2014 4:54 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Sat, 01 Mar 2014 13:55:30 -0500, James Silverton
wrote:

On 3/1/2014 1:15 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:11:12 +0100, Tom P wrote:

Standard size letter in Germany now costs 70 Euro cents since beginning
of the year.

No.

Well, what does the stamp for a "standard size letter" cost in Germany?

It's 60 cent (up to 20 grams) now after 58 in 2013 and 55 during several
years before 2013. International letters cost 75 cent (unchanged since
some years).


OK, a US ounce is 28g, so the US letter rate is USD 0.49 or 66 euro
cents;

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You need a new calculator

0.49 dollars is 0.35 Euro

tim

On 3/5/2014 3:24 PM, tim..... wrote:


"James Silverton" wrote in message ...

On 3/1/2014 4:54 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Sat, 01 Mar 2014 13:55:30 -0500, James Silverton
wrote:

On 3/1/2014 1:15 PM, Martin Theodor Ludwig wrote:
On Fri, 28 Feb 2014 18:11:12 +0100, Tom P wrote:

Standard size letter in Germany now costs 70 Euro cents since
beginning
of the year.

No.

Well, what does the stamp for a "standard size letter" cost in Germany?

It's 60 cent (up to 20 grams) now after 58 in 2013 and 55 during several
years before 2013. International letters cost 75 cent (unchanged since
some years).


OK, a US ounce is 28g, so the US letter rate is USD 0.49 or 66 euro
cents;

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


You need a new calculator

0.49 dollars is 0.35 Euro

Correct! Upside down.


--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

On 3/5/2014 5:56 PM, Martin wrote:

ECB rate of exchange 5.3.14 USD1 = EUR 1.37

You might want to look at that again!

On 2014-03-03 03:16:29 -0600, Martin said:

On Sun, 2 Mar 2014 20:22:55 -0600, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

So it costs more to deliver mail to the remote, hard-to-reach areas.
You get what you pay for. Who says it should cost the same amount no
matter the destination.

The result is that nobody will deliver to remote addresses.

Unless it is important, then there will be a price high enough to make
it worth it. I see no problem in valuing expensive things expensively.

I once visited Papay Westray, an island at the farthest reach of the
Orkney Islands. It took a lot of doing to get ME out there. If I
chose to reside there, why shouldn't it cost more to delivery anything
out there, including mail?

A very nice place by the way. I visited it for the neolithic
settlement on the island, but I had a great time walking all around. A
great place for solitude.

--
Dan Stephenson
http://stepheda.com
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)