Times they are a-changing

Dorsetmike

Member
Had to buy a postage stamp today, first time in well over 6 years, I had to send a cheque to a company that couldn't take a card payment by ohone and did not have a web site with a payment facility.

It got me thinking, I usually post mail 4 times a year, using a reply paid envelope to send a receipt for a quarterly payment, incoming letterpost is either bills, statements or junk plus one Christmas card from a cousin. Only one billstatement comes in on line and that is Virgin Media for phone and broadband.

Plenty of parcel post, from Amazon, Ebay and other online sellers.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
We have certain bills that we pay using the web, and others that we write checks for. I have a few setup for automatic payments, like our home mortgage and the mobile phone bills and some utilities.

When I need stamps, I use the vending machine at the post office - In the US we have what is called the "Forever" stamp, meaning that even if a postal rate is raised, that 'forever' stamp will still be honored without having to add additional postage for first class letters.

I'm all for using the web for paying bills ... the wife is reluctant however, so we do some via snail mail to appease her likings.

Kh ♫
 

teddy

Duckmeister
We have the same system for stamps here Lars although I have to admit I have not tried keeping them for years to see if they would still be honoured..

teddy
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
We have the same system for stamps here Lars although I have to admit I have not tried keeping them for years to see if they would still be honoured..

teddy

Ours have no monetary value showing on those stamps. The US postal rates have risen several times in as many years ... just in the last 10 years it has gone up 10 cents. Our current postal rate is 49 cents ... the last "forever" stamps I bought were last year when the rate was 46 cents. They are still honored today.
 

Dorsetmike

Member
Our current "First class" rate is £0.62 - $1.04 so about over twice yours Lars, if it is larger than a normal envelope then £0,93, Second class £0.53 or £0.73 for larger. Weight limit is 100g, above that it goes for parcel rates.

First class is supposedly "next day" but that is not always the case.
 

JHC

Chief assistant to the assistant chief
It is only the Power Co's that will not allow cc payment in NZ but you can arrange auto payments.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Our current "First class" rate is £0.62 - $1.04 so about over twice yours Lars, if it is larger than a normal envelope then £0,93, Second class £0.53 or £0.73 for larger. Weight limit is 100g, above that it goes for parcel rates.

First class is supposedly "next day" but that is not always the case.

Wow .. those are high rates.

We used to have "next day" service, but that was before they closed down our main post office in town ... so now, for a letter to go across the street, it must go to Phoenix (110 miles away) then be resent back to Tucson so it can be delivered in about two days. The US Postal Service is privatized ... but ... it is governed by Congress, but receives no money from the US government for its operations. Strange ... ruled by a government entity that doesn't fund it.

The USPO tried to cut Saturday delivery to save money ... Congress said "NO" ... even though the USPO receives absolutely NO funding from the US Government. Stupid stupid stupid stupid.

My wife is slowly allowing us to convert to WEB payment of bills ... she still wants to see that paper bill arrive in the mailbox ... even though I say "look, honey, here is a PDF of our bill (and then can print it if needed) that arrived electronically ... she still wants to see them arrive in the post. But she is coming around ... about half of our bills are paid over the web now.
 

teddy

Duckmeister
I sometimes sent urgent documents by guaranteed next day delivery which cost several pounds. They never arrived on time and I then spent ages getting my money back from the PO. Total waste of time, so I stopped doing it. The postal service is so unreliable over here it has become a bit of a joke. Foreign workers hired to deliver mail who can not speak or read English. Money systematically robbed from letters and cards. Letters dumped in waste bins to save delivering them. What have we come to.

teddy
 
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