Just sent 2 QSL cards to JA, cost £2.20. Plus 35p each for post cards as I had no QSL cards, total cost almost three quid at the old price!
Handed the Post Office a couple of IRC coupons and received a blank look.
Anyone know how much International Mail will rise by, or will it work out cheaper to deliver QSL cards by hand?
Mike
2E0YYY
How good were the postie’s scales? They’d have been 76p each if they were 10 grams or less…
From Monday, overseas letters and postcards up to 10 grams will cost 87p. Over 10 grams and up to 20 grams will still be 87p if they’re going to Europe, but 1.28 if they’re going elsewhere. Over 20 grams and up to 40 grams will be 1.28 to Europe and 1.90 elsewhere.
Curiously, Greenland, and the whole of Russia all the way over to the Bering Strait counts as Europe.
73, Rick
In reply to M0LEP:
Cheers Rick. My scales showed precisely 10g.
Seems the PO scales differ somewhat 
Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to 2E0YYY:
I have recently been to collect an underpaid item.
It was a C5 SAE from the RSGB QSL bureau with a 2nd class stamp, as supplied by me. The envelope contained one card and a letter from the bureau about their changed arrangements. It cost £1.20 to collect because it is an old stock envelope and is a few mm larger than the Royal Mail standard template. Unfortunately we sent off about half a dozen of these, so, in due course, I think this mistake will cost around £7.
Be warned, if it not already too late
73,
Rod
In reply to M0JLA:
It was a C5 SAE from the RSGB QSL bureau with a 2nd class stamp
I received a similarly stamped item (3 cards, but no letter, in the last envelope I’d had lodged for my M6 call) without problems last week. I hope the new envelopes I’ve just sent don’t fall foul of the dreaded template…
73, Rick
In reply to M0LEP:
A local amateur told me this week that the QSL manager had returned his “2E0” envelopes as “he was not a member” — he is. He spoke to the regional manager who made some enquires and descovered that the updated membership lists had been sent out to the qsl managers with the “Other callsigns held” column hidden. Breweries and p*ssups comes to mind.
Peter
G1FOA
In reply to G1FOA:
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear that unpaid volunteers may make mistakes.
I think those who QSL should organise a mob. I can provide (for a small cost) flaming torches but you will need to bring your own pitchfork.
Andy
MM0FMF
In reply to M0JLA:
It was a C5 SAE from the RSGB QSL bureau with a 2nd class stamp, as
supplied by me. The envelope contained one card and a letter from the
bureau about their changed arrangements. It cost £1.20 to collect
because it is an old stock envelope and is a few mm larger than the
Royal Mail standard template. Unfortunately we sent off about half a
dozen of these, so, in due course, I think this mistake will cost
around £7.
Hi Rod!
I have been caught out by this trap myself.
It would be cheaper to send a few stamps to your QSL sub-manager and ask him to affix them to your remaining envelopes to make up the postage to the (new) “Second Class Large” rate, which is 69p from Monday 30th April.
It makes you wonder how many staff are employed by Royal Mail to measure each envelope going through the system, just to see if it exceeds the size limit by a couple of mm!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
Yes Walt, it would be but there are three separate mangers and that means three sets of postage to them as well.
Better might be to send a new batch of envelopes to each one and ask them to destroy the existing ones; that would have the direct benefit of actually increasing the number of waiting envelopes. Under the new scheme that would actually be a good idea as it appears they will send every 6 months regardless of personal preference.
73,
Rod
In reply to G3NYY:
It makes you wonder how many staff are employed by Royal Mail to
measure each envelope going through the system, just to see if it
exceeds the size limit by a couple of mm!
I think they’re scanned by lasers, Walt. Recently, I received an email to say my CC had been debited £3 after a parcel I sent to Japan was deemed to be larger than I had declared. Apparently, it was scanned by lasers. Of course, I couldn’t argue with them, as the parcel had already been delivered!
73 Mike
2E0YYY
In reply to G1FOA:
updated membership lists had been sent out to the qsl managers with
the “Other callsigns held” column hidden.
Oops. HQ did seem to be a little un-clear about exactly which other callsigns they wanted registered. I assumed they’d want to know about my M6 and my M0, but I hoped that they could work out all the possible regional and special variations for themselves.
I hope this new system doesn’t make things more difficult for the folks at the sharp end. It does seem to be giving them more things to check…
73, Rick
In reply to MM0FMF:
In reply to G1FOA:
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear that unpaid volunteers may
make mistakes.I think those who QSL should organise a mob. I can provide (for a
small cost) flaming torches but you will need to bring your own
pitchfork.
Its not the volunties who made the mistakes but the profresional amateurs running the organisation.
Presumably the flaming torches will be flaming. Does the post office charge extra for this service or will you be sending them down with the olympic torch relay?
Peter
G1FOA
In reply to M0LEP:
People may still only get a few cards as some of the new qsl rules say that not only 2nd class large but send any cards and only upto 5 mm thick envelopes this of cause will be down to the sub manager using common sense or the rules.
I am lucky with my manager and a 4kg parcel arrived this week 1200 plus cards .
So buy your 2nd class large now before the 14p increase per stamp , even with these increases the post still gets damaged and lost due to all the part time contracts now in place.
G0TRB
In reply to 2E0YYY:
eQSL.cc or direct on receipt at this station.
GW4ZPL John.
tnx for e-cards received in the past
In reply to GW4ZPL:
After 52 years on the air, I have in excess of 100,000 QSL cards. I will probably never look at 99.999% of them ever again.
Quite frankly, I just don’t want any more. Floor loading for the storage of QSL cards has become an issue! What will happen to them when I go Silent Key? Most likely, the skip.
I still try to answer all incoming cards, but eQSL is much preferred. The average round trip time for QSLs via the bureau is now 3 - 5 years.
Some European chasers send me a QSL card for each and every SOTA activation that I do!!!
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to G3NYY:
I still try to answer all incoming cards, but eQSL is much preferred.
From an activator’s point of view, eQSL handles locations in a hideously cumbersome way; apparently needing a different account for each one (though that might allow customised photos for each one, I guess). LotW is slightly better, but still somewhat tedious. I figure that for SOTA, the “confirmed” asterisk is QSL enough, though before it (re-)appeared I’d send one card to each callsign (unless their QRZ entry said something like “No QSL cards”, of course)…
73, Rick
In reply to M0LEP:
From an activator’s point of view, eQSL handles locations in a
hideously cumbersome way; apparently needing a different account for
each one.
I just have one G3NYY/P eQSL account, and I insert the SOTA reference in the Comments field. It does get complicated when I operate as GW3NYY/P, etc … (sigh)
73,
Walt (G3NYY)
In reply to M0JLA:
There seems to be some confusion with Post Office staff as to what is allowed to fit through their slot gauges before you pay the next higher rate. A month or so ago, I took a jiffy bag down to my local PO (which is notorious for over charging) and was told that I would have to pay extra as the jiffy bag ‘touched the sides’ as it slid neatly through the slot. Rubbish, I exclaimed, as I’d taken an identical parcel down the day before and had paid the lower rate (that too had touched the sides). Much of it is down the PO staff’s interpretation of the guidelines unfortunately. Seeing the state of some of the mail I get through the letterbox, anything can fit through that slot!
C5 sized envelope received the other week with 20 odd cards no problem though.
Jonathan
2E0CTW
In reply to 2E0CTW:
In reply to M0JLA:
There seems to be some confusion with Post Office staff as to what is
allowed to fit through their slot gauges before you pay the next
higher rate. A month or so ago, I took a jiffy bag down to my local PO
(which is notorious for over charging) and was told that I would have
to pay extra as the jiffy bag ‘touched the sides’ as it slid neatly
through the slot.
Hi Jonathan
I’ve sent shed loads of stuff out via RM and have encountered exactly the same problems. I’ve given up debating with the counter staff any more and just cough up 
Mike
2E0YYY
As with many things, bitching about it on here may make you feel better but will not change things. To have some effect you need to complain to the organ grinder not the monkey. i.e. don’t complain at the local office. It’s worth videoing the staff (see these smartphones are useful) testing the package and when you tell the PO you have such video you find they refund the extra charges without question.
However, I have to say that as someone who ran a small mail order business a few years back, I developed an excellent working relationship with the staff at the 2 local POs I used and I never had a problem. Often it’s all down to how you approach things. A confrontational or negative approach will always result in a confrontation or negative response from the staff, many of whom don’t like having to apply rules which may seem petty.
Andy
MM0FMF