delivery to scotland

[Midgie Hater]

The organisation I sort-of work for (Citizen's Advice) has been campaigning and lobbying on this issue for a while now, so far to no avail, despite some sympathetic murmurings from certain political corners. (Presumably murmurings rather than roars so they don't actually disturb the corporate beast from its self-satisfied slumber atop its pile of ill-gotten gold, and in doing so jeopardise their future political prospects. Me? Cynical?  :roll: )

[hopper]

Well here another one, not royal mail. We bought Karendean planks for the floor and the amount we needed was quite a few boxes, sorry madam that will be £90 delivery, but if you take two deliveries over two days with by the same company it will only be £20. Not rocket science which deal we took.
When questioned why?  one delivery is to big.
Double the road miles.  :roll:

[Wildfisher]

Royal Mail has created a level of expectation for people all over the UK. It's a terrific service and good value for money. It has economies  of scale, efficiency, the profitable deliveries subsidize the loss making deliveries and keeps the cost of those down. This works because it is one company operating across  one country - the UK - regulated by one government. Anyone  who doubts that should go out today and post two identical large letter packages - one the Irish Republic or any other EU country  and one to Northern Ireland then come back and tell us how much each of them cost.

[Fishtales]

That isn't really a fair comparison Fred. The cost of delivery includes the price that the receiving deliverer adds on to the Royal Mail price. The Royal Mail price is fixed for delivery within the UK outside of this they have to add whatever the price the receiving mail company wants to charge. A lot of courier companies in the UK use the Royal Mail delivery hub to move things around the country before they are picked up at their own local hub for delivery. The Royal Mail have to charge them the same rate as it charges everyone else, sometimes if it is a regular bulk order they will also get a discount, so it pays the courier to send it by Royal Mail then charge whatever they like to the customer to have it delivered by one of their own vans. TNT did that with there holiday mail from Spain. They would pick it up at the hotels, get it into London, put it into the system and then Royal Mail posties had to deliver it

[Wildfisher]

Exactly. The Irish Republic is foreign country whose carrier adds on their charge as they must.

Two separate countries, two separate companies.

Right now such a charge does not apply when sending to Scotland or anywhere else within the UK. If Scotland separates  it will be a foreign country when looked at from within the UK. Alex Salmond also says he will re-nationalize the Royal Mail in Scotland.  So then we have two companies, one  state owned in Scotland, one privately owned in the UK.  Aye, very good!   :roll:

Two separate countries, two separate companies.

[Fishtales]

The discussion is about courier prices versus Royal mail prices now Fred, not sometime in the future. Both the Dutch and German postal services have a stake in Royal Mail but they still charge for UK mail to be delivered there and royal Mail charge to deliver there mail here, but the difference is peanuts so even after a yes vote the prices wont change significantly. Courier prices may be another matter though, although UPS and TNT seem to be able to match Royal Mail Parcels prices when bringing in stuff from abroad.

[Wildfisher]

Nothing is set in stone Sandy, but right now by act of the UK Parliament  Royal Mail must offer a universal service within the UK. We have to deal with the right now and right now we have a wonderful and great value for money service.

http://www.royalmailgroup.com/about-us/regulation/how-were-regulated/universal-service-obligation

But you know this. Alex Salmond has also said, trumpeted - boasted  in fact, that he would re-nationalize  the service in Scotland. This will not happen in the UK, so inevitably  that would be the the end of Royal Mai as we know it. No one seriously believes that would not mean higher prices and a worse service due to loss of cross subsidy and economies of scale.

As someone who derives a good part of his income - and  most of that from England -  by operating a mail order service this is more than just a moot point.

[Wildfisher]

When I send a fly line to Germany, (and in the past I sent plants)   it costs me 3 x as much as it does to send it within the UK using Royal Mail's superb universal service. 

Everything has to be paid for, no matter how it is presented there is no way round this. There is no such thing as a flat rate shipping charge for Forfar and Frankfurt one way or another someone, somewhere pays for it usually through higher overall prices that can be used to hide the extra shipping costs. It is naive to think it is otherwise.

[Fishtales]

To send a post card to New Zealand costs 81p, from New Zealand to the UK $1.90nzd (99p), so not much difference in it.

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery/international-economy

http://www.nzpost.co.nz/tools/rate-finder/sending-internationally/letters

It will cost UK companies more in postage to send bills to Scotland but they will still get special deals from Royal Mail to make it cheaper. Anyone sending bills within Scotland wouldn't see much of a difference. A Scottish mail service will also give companies discounted rates if sending to the rest of the UK so, again, customers will see very little difference. The people who will see a difference will be the casual letter writer and post card sender but Royal Mail have already did surveys that suggest these only make up a small percentage of traffic owing to emails, skyping, facetime, social networking and texting.

[Wildfisher]

Don't know about the ifs buts and mibees Sandy, I  can only plan on current realities, not unknowns. Right now I know what it costs me (and therefore what it costs my customers) to send a package within the UK and outwith the UK. Right now my main customer base (by far) is England and  along with Scotland that is part of the UK and operates under the Royal Mail universal service. Right now the only certainties of this continuing is if the UK remains intact, everything else is speculation.  As I said this is not a just a moot point, I rely on this as part of my income as do other Scottish based suppliers of many products. My lines are also manufactured to my specification - in England and shipped to me from there.