Blood for the Baron!

I've been ranting on Facebook all this week about the cost of Royal Mail now, for those that don't know I'm actually a Postman of 14 years! I use eBay regularly and it really has f*cked everyone in the ass! Most people didn't even know of the changes so have been left shortchanged this week.

I'm going to try and explain the reasoning behind Royal Mail but please believe me when I say I don't agree with the outcome.
About 10 years ago the government appointed a regulator to open the market up on mail delivery in the UK. This meant all of a sudden the mail service took a massive hit in budget and things got changed all in the name of modernisation. The main problem RM had was that they weren't allowed to increase their stamp prices, it's only in the last year that this period has finished and RM are pricing as they always should have.

The problem now is there's a lot of other companies out there doing it for less! RM don't seem to realize that, I've heard rumour that its because they want to screw themselves over so that when they inevitably get privatised they will be worthless!

Ship by Hermes, far cheaper and faster too.

Anybody else notice how ebay seems to be plugging items from the US constantly? They are setting themselves up for trouble though because you can bet some people will end up buying electrical goods they can't use in the UK. I really wish some company with real clout would set up a rival to ebay and undercut their fees etc

Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.

The pricks should have been privatised years ago, same with Auspost and NZpost. In NZ there is a website called trademe, it has pretty much killed ebay over there. However, ebay bought it, but it still runs pretty much as it did. Very low fee's and sod all hassle.

Some items from the US are ok Humby but yes electrical goods aren't. I will get comics and action figures from a US seller if I haven't seen them sold by a seller in the UK.

Sometimes (more often than not) buying from the US has cheaper freight than Aussie domestic, if I'm in no hurry I won't hesitate. Also the cost of goods can be 3 times higher than the US, here. For example, a set of Dave Gilmour EMG pickups in Aussie was $850, I bought some on ebay for $280 delivered. No brainer and the local retailers cry fowl. Suddenly they don't have a monopoly and the Aussie dollar is worth more than the US and THEN the cost of freight goes up. Hmmm, I smell a rat.

paul463 wrote:Ship by Hermes, far cheaper and faster too.

Agreed, I'm going to start offering it as an option on my site. £2.75 for an up to 1kg package and they pick it up from you, bargain.