Postage

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.
--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

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...

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!

On a related point, from what I remember, mailing stuff home from
Britain worked out well. Italian mail fulfilled the stereotype,
unfortunately. I recall Austrian mail being the easiest, fastest, and
with least scuffing.

Speaking of mailing, here is a tip for Americans mailing home. A
lesson learned. Apparently while limited quantities of alchohol can be
carried home, it cannot be mailed! I mailed home some wine from
Germany and it was confiscated... I was told by the Customs people it
was considered an Import and I needed a government license to Import
Alchohol. For what was plainly a souvenir -- too bad. So, take my
experience as advice to find a way to take with you personally.

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

"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

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.

--
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 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)

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.

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.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

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