An end to silly prices on eBay ?

kim said the following on 04/02/2008 16:14:

It may not be RM's responsibility, but they do charge a fair whack for collecting these duties. I can't remember the exact figure (£8 rings a bell), but it must surely cover the costs of collecting it.

This junk mail could end up being a double whammy if we also have to pay to dispose of it. I don't know about all of the UK, but in North Somerset window envelopes have to go with the general rubbish rather than being recycled, which means that people chuck the whole lot in the general rubbish.

That is the cost to the post office. I meant the cost to the government ie: taxpayer.

It is generally believed that levying a tax on private imports of less than £250 value costs far more in administration than the revenue it generates. It is a tax for the sake of a tax. It could easily be abolished at no expense to the the governemnt or the post office and a great saving in cost and convenience to the customer.

(kim)

A kind offer, but my current supplier has only had 2 periods of down-time in the last 7 years, 1 hour and 3 hours, the latter being a denial-of-service attack on his servers, and that's money in the bank to me. I've also never had to wait more than

Cheers Richard

Well, that's an interesting debate - is it better to take on work that is maginaly profitable at risk of losing more profitable work? I guess most buinesses have to make that sort of choice, and I don't believe there is one single answer. I know that is why we got rid of mail-order (plus a huge reduction in stress levels!).

Business has been doing the governments work for years unpaid (and fined heavily for getting it wrong) so there's nothing new there!

Junk mail is claimed to work, I suppose it must or they would have given up by now, but for me it just demonstrates the the product is dubious, or it would be in the high street (or, more likely, Tesco's).

Cheers Richard

On 04/02/2008 17:04, beamendsltd said,

Cue Chris saying "You've put up with that much downtime, and you've had to wait how long for a reply???" :-)

Someone should tell Replica Railways, as it defies belief that even though they are producing new models, they still don't have any website!

Fred X

But as Shakespeare said - "Aye, there's the rub" If Royal Mail/Parcel Force as we know it disappears then you will almost certainly have a tiered system of postage in the UK, and you can bet that the prices to places that didn't happen to be close to major centres would be very high.

And if Royal Mail/Parcel Force disappeared, you can bet that your friendly local courier might not be so cheap and accommodating :-)

Jim.

beamendsltd wrote in news:9ea1f06b4f% snipped-for-privacy@btconnect.com:

My post was a bit TIC wasn't a real offer. I'm not a real commercial supplier of webspace, I simply sell/give out some of my spare capacity as the mood takes me.

Paul Boyd wrote in news:47a759bc$0$21088$ snipped-for-privacy@news.zen.co.uk:

LOL

Actually the folks who I rent my space from are very much like that, been with them for donkey's years, indeed since it was a "one man band". Hudson/Hosteroute/and a few other brands to boot nowadays. Can't recommend them enough.

It just so happens that I have a fairly large resellers account with them for my own various puposes and I give/rent out a bit of it as the mood takes me. I have to say though that I wouldn't take on the responsibility of a commercial site that took payments - I could do it, simply wouldn't want to.

"beamendsltd" wrote

It doesn't work for me. I simply dump it immediately & unread into the blue plastic box that is provided by North Lincolnshire Council for waste paper. It usually represents at least 75% of my fortnightly waste paper disposal.

You know it makes sense.

John.

The Mailing Preference Service seems to work pretty well for me. [1] Obviously it doesn't stop local kebab and estate agents' adverts, but seems to cut down the junk mail substantially.

I've finally found a way to get my last sort of bank statement sent electronically, so I think my "real" post is now limited to the odd parcel from Amazon.

I couldn't agreee more, but the modern world (NOT me) dictates that price is everything and subsidies are Not A Good Thing - even when such subsidies benefit the Governments stated aim of reducing emissions!

I doubt it - there are 6 major couriers who were constantly trying to get our business, even TNT who only deliver to commercial premesis and know they are wholey unsuitable for our needs!

Cheers Richard

"Arthur Figgis" wrote

TPS works most of the time, but MPS doesn't seem to work at all [1], and as you say has no impact at all on the local stuff.

John.

MPS only applies to *addressed* mail. True junk mail is *unaddressed*. You can specifically demand that Royal Mail stop delivering *unaddresed* mail to your address. They will then try to kid you that you will miss out out on important government announcements and the like which is a lie.

(kim)

It costs Royal Mail more than £7 to deliver an ordinary second class letter to certain parts of the country. I doubt very much any private courier would be willing to do it for less.

(kim)

At what cost to importing retailers who still have to pay the duty and tax and will lose custom because more people will import privately?

Is it still convenient to the customer when more and more small retailers close down because there is no longer a level playing field?

MBQ

The best way of avoiding addressed junk mail is to not be on the Electoral Register - we get none adressed to us, or telephone calls.

The trouble is the council are a tad upset - but sod 'em, they shouldn't sell the list - and elections are a waste of time anyway (I smoke, I used to like a pint, I like loud live music, I drive a nasty 4x4, I enjoy off-road driving, the kids are gone, I'm self-employed, I don't believe any goverment statistics since the great passive smoking lie, I couldn't give a damn about "arts festivals", I believe yob and drinking "cultures" are symptoms not diseases - so basically there's no one for me to vote for! I just thought I'd clear that up before someone says I shuld vote to change things...., and yes, I am more or less permenently angry about the bleeding hearts getting it all their own way!).

Cheers Richard

I managed that for getting on for 16 years by not living at an "Address".Drastic way to loose Readers Digest but it worked. Technically I was homeless though in fact I had a very interesting place to live. It did not have a letterbox and the official address of the organization was at some chambers in London. Locally there was a PO box. Surprisingly I was able to a get Passport with no trouble but the Countersigning JP was a personal friend and wrote a good explanation. Recent years it did start to cause some aggravation, Threw TV licensing into a right tizzy when I tried to do it online. Also was not able to renew driving licence with a PO Box address. Buying some premium bonds was also a bit complicated as they check for money laundering. These were overcome with patience but buying goods online was the main problem. A courier cannot deliver to a PO Box and having a personal address at a PO Box and asking things to be delivered elsewhere naturally raised suspicions for traders.

Have moved in with a partner now and had to go legal. On the other hand she did let me destroy a flower bed so I could put up a layout shed to bring us back to charter. Nice to buy online without hassle as well. Have a Leslie rs5t on route at the moment. Who needs sound modules. G.Harman

Speaking as one of the former with fourteen-plus years experience of the business I can assure you the cost to me would be negligible. The actual amount I pay is not nearly as great as a private individual usually has to pay (percentage wise).

It might encourage the distributors of items such as CDs, DVDs and fashion accessories to charge less exhorbitant wholesale prices in the UK which would be very much welcomed by small retailers, customers and the government alike.

(kim)