Royal Mail On-Line Postage

 

I'm using this more and more and feel that if you ever send any post other than First Class letters of less than a hundred grams, it is the quickest way to do it.

It definitely saves you money, as you don't have to drive to the nearest Post Office for a start. In our case the postman picks it all up off the hall table.

But I've also started using Second Class post to save money on the less urgent stuff. How many do that, when it means buying a stamp?

Give the Royal Mail On-Line Postage a try.

Vehicle Excise Duty

 

I've just renewed the Vehicle Excise Duty on Celia's car in two minutes on-line.

Bang goes another job for the Post Office.

Checking UK Post Codes

 

Confirming UK addresses is very easy as UK post codes generally only cover about a dozen houses. Many legitimate businesses also have their own post code.

1. Go to www.royalmail.com and they have an almost free postcode finder, that you can use to check addresses. I say almost-free as you can only do so many free checks a day.
2. Go to www.google.co.uk and type the post code in quotes into Google searching the UK only. Try it with "CB8 9LU" which is my postcode.
3. Go to www.multimap.co.uk and type the post code in to get a map.

In most cases this will give you enough evidence to find a crook.

I had a scam supposedly from The National Lottery, PO Box 1010, Liverpool L70 1NL. I typed the postcode into the Royal Mail and they didn't know it. The Royal Mail post code finder is very up to date.

Also try out CB8 8NP, which is the post code of my bank. You will find that it not only gives the address, but the name of the Bank. Thus, if you have a business address, it often checks directly. I also think that the Royal Mail doesn't give out a post code without checking the building or company physically.

Smilers

 

Smilers are an interesting innovation from the Royal Mail, that allows you to print your own stamps to go with their more legitimate ones.

I would think that they have some very interesting marketing applications, in that you could print a stamp showing your new team, product or whatever and add them to a promotion.

It's funny, but the Royal Mail is not thought to be an innovative company in an innovative industry. But actions speak otherwise.

Printing Postage On-Line

 

I have used this facility from Royal Mail several times and feel that in general it is a very good and professional system. There are a few issues though.

Good Features

1. The ability to print as many times as needed. I have a rather old laser, that isn’t too smart and sometimes jams with envelopes.

2. The e-mails that say you’ve posted. Not exactly a proof of posting, but good enough for many purposes. Did I actually post that letter? When did I send it?

3. The general structure of the site, which means you get the address right.

Bugs

1. Sometimes I have tried several times to submit a label/stamp and it tells me to try later. I’ve been persistent and not failed, but would put many off.

2. It did confuse my return address with a line in the recipient’s address. Not repeated since. Could have been finger trouble, but doubt it.

3. When you print a label/stamp to say Ireland, it returns to print another overseas stamp. Should return to the general print again.

4. I sent a letter to a company with their own postcode – Dyson Ltd. The system wanted me to put a house name, flat number etc. in. In the end I entered Dyson Ltd. as a building name.

5. There is no place when sending to a business to enter the job title.

Requested Features

1. A simpler interface so I don’t have to click so many times to print a First Class label/stamp. Look at Amazon’s One Click approach.

2. Saved recipients so if you send a lot of letters to the same person, you login and print.

3. The ability to cut and paste an address from Outlook, bypassing the address checker. I can understand that this might not be easy, but I have written a lot of software that decodes names and addresses and extracts the post code.

4. The ability to upload a list of names and addresses and then print them on labels. Why not allow people to update their Christmas card lists in this way? You shouldn’t lose them like we all do.

5. The timeout is too short. It should also remember you when you return.

6. A small point is that I always address letters to Ireland as Eire. This may be wrong, but I can’t change it.

Summary

I'll give it about eight out of ten for now.

E-Stamps

 

This looks an interesting development from the Royal Mail.

I'll try them in a day or so.