People Who Send You Items With Postage Underpaid

[Whoever]

At Christmas I received a number of cards which had no stamps on them or postage was underpaid. The Post Office delivered cards saying a package was waiting for me and I've had to pay several batches of £1.50 to retrieve items, not knowing what they consisted of.

What would you do in terms of notifying the recipients? Would you consider it bad manners to let them know?

[TheHangman]

If you like them then keep quiet, if you don't then return the favour next xmas

[atalanta]

I received one card from a cousin which the Royal mail in its wisdom considered too thick for a normal-priced delivery. I shall send my usual new-year letter to my cousin, and shall add a casual PS to the effect that my postman didn't like her choice of cards - too fancy for him, please make next year's card less exotic. Cost me over a quid, and a seven-mile round trup

[emmie]

if it's family i would just pay up, by the way i think it's entirely the Post offices fault as you can buy a batch of 1st class stamps, that doesn't mean that the card you send to auntie mabel, will warrant a first class stamp cost of 50p or whatever it is now. As letters, cards go by size, weight, so the only way of knowing true cost is to take them to the post office and weigh them. Does that make sense?

[emmie]

i am still annoyed that it took four weeks for a Christmas card to get to my mother, i could have walked it there quicker.

[bookbinder]

This happened to me a couple of Christmases ago. It didn't take much head-scratching to figure out that the items that I was expected to collect were likely to be Christmas cards. I just ignored the note from the Post Office, because it wasn't worth the cost of petrol to go and collect - and pay for - them. I didn't notify the senders (and I guessed who they were) because it was probably just an oversight.

[netibiza]

This happened to all my xmas cards that I sent a couple of years ago, I was furious, as I had deliberately taken them to the PO to have them weighed and correct postage paid, of course this is in my tiny spanish village, but even so. I now take them to the tobacco shop who are far more reliable, but no don't tell your friends as maybe as in my case they did their best!

[emmie]

i am beginning to wonder if any got to their destination before Christmas, one will have as i gave it to them, but the others could be anywhere.

[jno]

I got one of those from someone who is a nuisance at the best of times. But if it happens several times in one month, maybe you should be deleting a few surplus friends from your list? Your circle of acquaintances sounds excessively cheese-paring.

[shaneystar2]

This has just happened to me with a birthday parcel from a very old friend .I've had to pay £2.20 extra postage .As the sorting office is difficult for me to get to so I paid on line and what a palaver that was !
The extra postage amounted to £1.20 and they charge a £1 handling charge
My friend was really upset that the parcel hadn't arrived ,said she had weighed it and put what she thought was the right postage on and would reimburse me the extra ....but as we've known one another for over fifty years it doesn't really matter to me .
I'm still waiting for them to deliver the parcel btw ..Postage costs are a minefield if you only send the occasional parcel through the mail .

[Bazile]

How many £10 notes with the cards are you missing out on , by not collecting

[netibiza]

Our sealed cards have been known to have been opened and anything inside gets "lost", we get used to it!

[emmie]

i received another letter that had been opened, i am considering complaining to the Post office, Royal Mail

[naomi24]

Depends who it's from. If it was someone I wanted to be in touch with, I'd say nothing. If it wasn't, I'd post it back - minus the stamps.

[joggerjayne]

Send them a thank you, with no stamp ... but stick a stamp on and then steam it off, so it will look like the stamp fell off in the post.

[petal54]

I had the same with crimble card,tought the point of postage stamps was to avoid this prob.just as well not a larger package with £10 to pay!

[joko]

if its just not enough postage - such as they stuck a first class stamp on and it wasnt enough - as most people would think that was adequate for a card


but if any have nothing at all on - and especially if it kept happening - i would get a jiffy bag and place a large pebble in it with thank you written on it and smiley face and a flower or something - so it looks 'nice' and put it straight in the post box with a single second class stamp on ... haha