On Saturday I went to the sorting office to collect an item which had been sent to me with too little postage paid. The Sorting Office was crowded with others in the same situation. I had to pay £1.27 to retrieve the item – a Christmas greeting from a friend who had forgotten to attach a stamp. Now I don’t mind friends having senior moments (I have enough of them myself!) but I don’t see why I, as the intended recipient, should have to fork out what amounts to a fine for someone else’s mistake. With the complicated new charging system, I suspect that the Post Office will make a tidy sum this Christmas. And, yes, I know I could have looked at the item, identified the sender and then refused to pay the excess, in which case the item would have been returned to sender. But shouldn't that have happened in the first place?
And then I got to thinking, isn’t that how the postal service started? Wasn’t it the recipient who paid the carriage on receipt of the item? And didn’t poorer folks send “empty letters” so their family members could see the writing on the envelope, know that their loved ones were ok, but then refuse to accept the item to avoid payment?
I am being very careful to weigh and measure the hand made cards I send out this year, but if any of you do receive one that I've underpaid, please do let me know!
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