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Outrageous Postal Charges


Broadside

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I just posted one roll of 120 film to be processed at Peak Imaging and the Post Office had the cheek to charge me £2.70 for the privilege! :eek:

The last time I did this it cost me about 25p

Sorry but I had to get this off my chest and there was nobody else to moan at.

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Its true I should have used the freepost address but I have had trouble in the past with items going missing using freepost so I decided to post direct. However these days to be classed as ordinary mail the envelope has to pass through a slot on the post office counter and a 120 film in a small jiffy bag won't fit though the slot so it is classed as a parcel. Next time I will take the risk and use freepost.

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The reason is that in the recent revue of Post office prices they did away with the 'up to 100 grams' starting category for small parcels and now the lowest and cheapest category is up to 700 grams for which we pay £2.70 rather than around £1.48 as I recall.

 

They stoped us sending film by first class letter post when they introduced the maximum thickness rule for envelopes. Film casettes are to bulky to pass the test and are classed as small parcels.

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The USA had similar changes that affect film in envelopes due to the automated handling and sorting equipment. Envelopes must be "constant thickness" to qualify for the lower rates; so a film "lump" moves it to "package" rates, which are also higher here.

Curious though, it is still cheaper to mail my film to the camera shop 10 miles away than to drive it there in person, even without considering gasoline costs. The "Internet Forum Discount" on processing makes it a couple dollars cheaper overall even including postage both ways.

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Simple solution ... Take film out of canister and lay flat in envelope ... Oh do this in very dark room .... Sorry couldn't resist :D

 

Long gone are the cheap and simple days of the postal services. :rolleyes:

 

LOL! Yes, I had a self-amusing moment imagining a very very long, narrow envelope, which would enable the film to be sent unrolled, so the packet would be thin enough to go through the Royal Mail test slot. [Note that you couldn't really fold it or cut it before processing!] But then it would exceed the "large letter" dimensions in the other direction, so the b*****ds have got us either way! An entertaining idea, nevertheless.

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The exact same thing happened to me but for a roll of 35 mm. Now I will save several up and post together.

 

I've taken my film to Walmart lately where you don't pay postage either way. The film is sent to the company who did processing for Kodachrome up until the end. I can't remember their name at the moment. I'm getting old!

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I've taken my film to Walmart lately where you don't pay postage either way. The film is sent to the company who did processing for Kodachrome up until the end. I can't remember their name at the moment. I'm getting old!

That would be Dwayne's Photo in Kansas. They are good. I didn't know Walmart used them, so that may be a good option. I've had Dwayne's do quite a bit, and have no complaints, but their scans are not as high resolution as some others will do.

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