How much would you pay for a first class stamp?

[taxman]

Currently the price Royal Mail charges for stamps is capped but regulator Offcom is proposing that the cap be removed from all first class and some second class postage.

 

Royal Mail made a £120million loss from letters last year, so if the price of a first class stamp went up to, say £1, would people continue to send letters or would there be such a drop-off that Royal Mail could afford to get rid of all those costly posties?

 

BBC Story here.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Stamps are only one of the rip-offs.

 

Let's imagine I sent you a present which was worth £41.00 (I can't imagine why I would want to do that, but let's assume I did.)

 

HM Customs and Excise will allow gifts worth £40.00 or less into the country with no duty.

 

I have paid full postage charges on the package I sent to you. I paid the full cost to have the package conveyed from my local Post Office to your house.

 

The package is worth more than £40, so HM Customs and Excise will charge you import VAT of 20% on the £41.00. You will have to pay them £8.20p.

 

Not a problem. - That's the law.

 

But the Post Office will charge you an additional £8 'handling fee'. - I paid for the package to be delivered to your door, but they want an extra £8.00 to do what they've already been paid to do.

[Mecky]

Smoothing the way for privatisation .... and that means a poorer service at a biggest cost to the public.

[LeMaquis]

Smoothing the way for privatisation .... and that means a poorer service at a biggest cost to the public.

 

Just like Labour did with its PFI scheme in the NHS. Don't do as we do....

[Redyam]

Stamps are only one of the rip-offs.

 

Let's imagine I sent you a present which was worth £41.00 (I can't imagine why I would want to do that, but let's assume I did.)

 

HM Customs and Excise will allow gifts worth £40.00 or less into the country with no duty.

 

I have paid full postage charges on the package I sent to you. I paid the full cost to have the package conveyed from my local Post Office to your house.

 

The package is worth more than £40, so HM Customs and Excise will charge you import VAT of 20% on the £41.00. You will have to pay them £8.20p.

 

Not a problem. - That's the law.

 

But the Post Office will charge you an additional £8 'handling fee'. - I paid for the package to be delivered to your door, but they want an extra £8.00 to do what they've already been paid to do.

 

 

TRANSLATION:

 

I tried to get away with buying something and not paying tax, but they caught me and now I have to pay a fine. I am now going to complain about it here.

[truman]

Stamps are only one of the rip-offs.

 

Let's imagine I sent you a present which was worth £41.00 (I can't imagine why I would want to do that, but let's assume I did.)

 

HM Customs and Excise will allow gifts worth £40.00 or less into the country with no duty.

 

I have paid full postage charges on the package I sent to you. I paid the full cost to have the package conveyed from my local Post Office to your house.

 

The package is worth more than £40, so HM Customs and Excise will charge you import VAT of 20% on the £41.00. You will have to pay them £8.20p.

 

Not a problem. - That's the law.

 

But the Post Office will charge you an additional £8 'handling fee'. - I paid for the package to be delivered to your door, but they want an extra £8.00 to do what they've already been paid to do.

 

Genuine question..isn't RM charging you for processing the tax you should have paid ie collecting it and sending it on to HMRC?

[Obelix]

TRANSLATION:

 

I tried to get away with buying something and not paying tax, but they caught me and now I have to pay a fine. I am now going to complain about it here.

 

Hardly. That's how it works - you post it, you write the value on the customs declaration and then you pay the duty if there is any. How's that trying to get away with it?

 

I had a packet from the US, some electronics goods, at about £1100. Marked up appropriately, was expecting duty of about 6% to be on it (plus VAT). Happy to pay that but ParcelFarce wanted a handling fee of £28 to do the job they had been paid for.

 

They refused to release the parcel, so I called the police and reported them for theft. They released the parcel. These handling fees are not at all legal nor enforcable it seems, but no-ones managed to get one into court to properly test it.

[Guest]

TRANSLATION:

 

I tried to get away with buying something and not paying tax, but they caught me and now I have to pay a fine. I am now going to complain about it here.

The handling fee isn't a fine. If your order something from the US, for example, and its value is over £18 (£15 from November 1st), you're charged import VAT on that item. The value for gifts is £40. The Royal Mail handling fee covers collection of that charge:

If customs charges are payable upon importation, Royal Mail charge a handling fee to cover the costs for carrying out customs procedures paying any customs duties or VAT due and collecting it from you. If customs examination is required, or if information is missing from the declaration, Royal Mail open, repack and reseal the package. Royal Mail fees are itemised separately on the charge label and are collected at the same time as customs charges.

From here.

[Redyam]

The handling fee isn't a fine. If your order something from the US, for example, and its value is over £18 (£15 from November 1st), you're charged import VAT on that item. The value for gifts is £40. The Royal Mail handling fee covers collection of that charge:

 

From here.

 

Yes you are right, I always thought it was a fine, but it is an admin cost. It is possible to do the process yourself and not pay the admin, the sender needs to say as much on the packet before hand.

 

Declaring the goods yourself

 

As the importer you can carry out your own customs procedures.

If you want to do this you will need to ensure the sender clearly marks the packet 'goods to be customs cleared by importer'.

You will then be sent a declaration to complete and return to the appropriate customs postal office.

They will calculate any import charges and write to advise you of your tax liability.

When you have paid this and the funds have been cleared, your goods will be released for delivery.

However, as a manual procedure there could be a considerable delay to the receipt of your goods.

You can obtain copies of the import declaration form and further information from our National Advice Service (NAS) on Tel 0845 010 9000.

This information is available from our web site by using the following links;

 

Import & export, which is under the heading businesses & corporations;

Businesslink ż International Trade,

Practical advice for business, where on the left hand margin is a heading

International trade;

Under the heading Practicalities of importing & exporting is Practical importing;

Importing & exporting by post;

Under the heading subjects covered in this guide is How to declare goods when importing by post;

Half way done this page is Declaring the goods yourself.

 

I must emphasise that the advice given is based on the information you supplied. If the nature of the transaction changes in technical detail, or the relevant details provided were incomplete or incorrect, we will not be bound by this ruling.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

HM Revenue & Customs

Customs, International Trade & Excise

 

Something to think about when you order goods from abroad.

[Kadogo]

I would sell my house and all its contents to assist Royal Mail LIMITED.

 

P.S. Who is this Royal Mail that people keep referring to ????