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What Do The Post Office Do With Unstamped Mail?

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i am  78year old, and i sent my daughter a birthday card  with some money inside.but i  didn't remember to put a stamp on it,she never got it .she phoned the local post depot and they told her that if they got any mail with no stamp it was burnt

Edited by nikki-red

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5 hours ago, mickx123 said:

i am  78year old, and i sent my daughter a birthday card  with some money inside.but i  didn't remember to put a stamp on it,she never got it .she phoned the local post depot and they told her that if they got any mail with no stamp it was burnt

Think you're daughter needs to take this up with someone higher up in the Royal Mail hierarchy / complaints dept, rather than speaking with someone at the local sorting office?  Hopefully your daughter obtained the name of the person she spoke to but I'd call back & ask to speak with the manager & take it from there. 

 

As far as I'm aware, unless there's been a sudden change of policy at Royal Mail, any letter or parcel that's been sent without any postage paid, the addressee has a card dropped in their letter box informing them that there's a item of postage that needs to be picked up from the sorting office, that no postage has been paid & how much it will cost them to get it from Royal Mail.   So, no burning of post. 

 

You should never send money through the post.  It might surprise you but post is scanned & there are some very light fingered people who work for the Royal Mail. They're not all as honest as Postman Pat. 

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As above you have to collect it and pay for the postage plus a fee...had this happen a couple of times over the last 12 months ...

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They normally charge £1 plus the cost of the missing postage.

 

Its only if the item isn't claimed then they may destroy it after a period of time.

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7 minutes ago, alchresearch said:

They normally charge £1 plus the cost of the missing postage.

 

Its only if the item isn't claimed then they may destroy it after a period of time.

According to my local post office it's now double the cost of the missing postage plus a £1.

 

But I'm sure the card was lovingly disposed off after checking it for money.

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My understanding is that the postman knocks on the potential  recipient's  door first. A card being left if no one is home. 

 

 

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23 hours ago, tinfoilhat said:

According to my local post office it's now double the cost of the missing postage plus a £1.

 

But I'm sure the card was lovingly disposed off after checking it for money.

Yep, there's now a few charges:

 

Item size No postage paid Insufficient postage paid
Letter/large letter £2 £1.50
Small parcel £3.50
Medium parcel £1.50 plus incremental postage rounded to the nearest 10 pence

 

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee/unpaid-postage

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If a parcel or a letter with no franking on the stamp arrives, you can get the stamp off without leaving the small oval shape behind by soaking  the stamp in water then carefully unpeeling it, being especially careful with the small oval part and not letting it separate from the rest of the stamp.  A penknife or a scalpel can be useful here.  Stick it on the next letter you post using a clear adhesive. I'm not sure but reusing stamps like this may be illegal, although how anyone would prove it had been used before I don't know. 

Edited by woolyhead

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