Postage - How Much!!!

Just received a shock when after waiting for 40 mins for a queue of 6 people to get served in our local post office that they wanted £24 to post the K10D GP, well at least that's what I thought she said as she didn't speak English very well!

Now, I'll admit, I don't post much stuff, but the 50-135 cost me £6.70 last week and that was a similar size, so I said 'no thankyou', took it back and thought that I'd take it to City Link as most online retailers charge about £7 for courier delivery, thinking that I could pay a similar price.

Got to City Link to find out it was closed, in March 2009 and my nearest depot was Didcot! Drove back to the shop (nearly an hour and a half and getting in a bit of a huff now!), went to their website to find that they don't deal with individual requests! Post Office shows cost is £21.65, just goes how much I couldn't understand the person at the counter!

Question is, am I whinging? Is this really what it costs to post a camera or am I missing something?

Yes because I presume you are posting special delivery and the parcel weighs over 2 kilos. If I am selling a camera I normally send just the body on its own via special delivery (under 2 kilo) and the manual/bits via recorded. Should work out around £10,

Couriers are actually more expensive once you start adding extra insurance.

Yep, sending stuff by post is very expensive if you are a normal customer. Businesses have big contracts that mean they get reduced rates because of a single collection point and bulk shipping. I know if you find a staples you can send stuff by DHL from there. Citylink only deal with contract customers.

Pharos or Interparcel. Don't use HDN, either UPS or DHL generally provide the best service.

Bret

The one that particularly annoys me at the moment is posting slide film for processing. The process paid envelopes are within the width, height and weight limits for a 1st class stamp. However, as they're more than 5mm thick you can't use a stamp but have to take them to the post office and send them as small packets!

Was hoping you'd reply Mike as I know you use the post a lot!

Looks like the way to go, just repackaged it into 2 seperate parcels to save money, even though there are now 2 parcels which means more work and less revenue for the PO! Seriously who dreams this stuff up?!

Thanks for the Staples / DHL tip as well Tyr, have an iMac here that is going to need posting soon so may need it. Unless anyone has a better idea for sending a box that large!

I don't know if it is nationwide, but I recently discovered that the (rather small) WHSmiths in town here has a DHL self service counter hidden away in the corner of the stationery section.

Special Delivery will indeed be £21.65, but it will arrive quite reliably.

Some couriers are not as reliable.

There is a box on its way to me shortly with a 15" wheel in it. As long as it's no more than 30kg, it's £20+ VAT with a 4 business day service to Helsinki from Coventry. That's via Pharos (who are a broker dealing with UPS). Interparcel deal with more parcel services, but I've found pharos' customer service excellent.
Within the UK you should be below £10. Don't forget to double-box it! (ask the guys who have received my lenses about my packaging - I've learned from my brother )

Bret

Couriers are fine for low value heavy items (or if you fancy taking your chances of it getting there undamaged) but once you start trying to add extra insurance they suddenly get very expensive.

That's the last you've seen of that then

I'll stick with Royal Mail - they may be expensive but they've never lost or broken anything of mine yet. More than can be said of other services

I normally use this service link. I found them more then just good. They pick up from home or office, OK it takes about 3-5 days depending where the addressee is living, it is insured, you can opt for a signature, enhance the insurance. All round I had only first class service from them over the last two years.

No bad experiences here, but then again my brother knows how to pack and pack well.

Stuff it if it's not full, two boxes and tape everywhere. Too big and heavy to throw is even better

Rm is too slow and way too expensive; my boxes are below thirty quid (and i've just seen, £40 including £1000 insurance) for 30kg. I'm certainly not going to complain and UPS' tracking is excellent.

Bret

I've used http://www.parcel2go.com/ quite a bit. You have to be in when they call (so it might be easier to use an office address).

You should be able to send a camera for well under £10. I've always found them to be reliable.

I use TNT - they are our main mail service (and one of the contenders to take over Royal Mail). Provided you get someone who knows what they are doing they are fast and efficient and fully trackable. If, like I had with the K5, you get someone who is a total airhead, they are slow, untrackable but still very reliable - it was only untrackable once it arrived in the UK because they don't have a contract with Royal Mail.

Which also explains why Private Eye often arrives two weeks late,via Geneva .

The likes of UPS here are very much business oriented.
One of them won't even accept address labels printed on an inkjet printer - they say their machines can't read the bar code .