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Author Topic: Postage costs  (Read 4407 times)

regiment

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Postage costs
« on: November 15, 2010, 01:59:45 pm »

was going to buy a  switch  to day..  switch £1 .. first class post £4  no i did not buy it
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rsm

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2010, 02:20:07 pm »

A piece of equipment at work had a fault on it, which was diagnosed over the phone as a "dead" internal battery. The supplier very kindly said we could open up the equipment and change it ourselves to save the £800 engineer callout fee. They said the battery would cost us £21 and £23 to post!!!   >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( The battery is a CR2 and costs about £2 in the supermarket!!!!! <*< <*< <*<
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Lord Bungle

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Re: post
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2010, 02:25:22 pm »

Had something similar at work, on of the Peavy speakers blew, I rang a company to enquire about repair and was told there was an internal fuse and they would come out and replace it for £40 plus £50 for the fuse, I informed them I would have to let them know, spoke to a sound engineer that uses the community centre and he laughed, pulled out a philips screw driver undid the back panel on the speaker and showed me the £50 fuse, it is a 21 watt car brakelight bulb. a couple of quid later and it was sorted. (I now keep a stock of them )
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regiment

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2010, 04:15:47 pm »

and i thought i was being ripped off  with £4
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wibplus

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2010, 04:40:05 pm »

I had to call a TV engineer to repair my telly. I watched him do the repair which involved replacing a tiny electronic part.  {:-{  Repair cost £46.  >>:-( >>:-(
I took the part to a local electronics shop and thought I would buy some spares to do any future repairs myself. Asked the shopkeeper for two of these and was told "we only sell them in packs of ten or one hundred".  :o  :o

I bought ten.....................................for £1.80.  <*<  <*<  <*<  <*<
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2010, 05:57:19 pm »

I had to call a TV engineer to repair my telly. I watched him do the repair which involved replacing a tiny electronic part.  {:-{  Repair cost £46.  >>:-( >>:-(
I took the part to a local electronics shop and thought I would buy some spares to do any future repairs myself. Asked the shopkeeper for two of these and was told "we only sell them in packs of ten or one hundred".  :o  :o

I bought ten.....................................for £1.80.  <*<  <*<  <*<  <*<
The cost there is figuring which tiny electronic part to change.  If its a different one that goes next time, thats £1.80 adrift, plus the cost of finding out what really broke.
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PMK

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2010, 06:05:33 pm »

You took the words right out of my mouth. 8)
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regiment

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #7 on: November 15, 2010, 07:06:01 pm »

or to put it another way its not doing the job £2 but knowing how to do it £50
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Colin H

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2010, 10:22:59 pm »



Strange how people never see the hidden costs of working for yourself.

Van, diesel, road tax, insurance My insurance is £920-00 per annum.

Telephone, fax machine, stationery.

Tooling, training, approx £2000-00p every five years to be gas registered.

Public liability insurance £5 million cost's me £1100-00 per annum.

And the most secret cost of all. You repair your telly it goes wrong and gets on fire. Try claiming off your house insurance if they find out it was a DIY job.


Colin H.
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wibplus

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2010, 10:34:15 pm »

Ok guys, I got the picture.  :embarrassed:
Almost sorry I spoke but I trained as a professional musician and worked at it and practised at it diligently for almost thirty years. If I was to charge for all that training, practice and experience then I doubt very much that I would ever work again. I just think that some people imagine that, simply because they trained in a particular field of expertise, they have the right to charge whatever fees they want. Value for money dosent seem to enter into the equation.  %)
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Lord Bungle

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2010, 10:41:03 pm »

I have no problems paying for a skilled workman to do the job, but when they try to rip you off over the price of spares thats what gets me,
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2010, 10:57:51 pm »

The items Colin H has listed are actual ongoing costs which he has to find the cash for so it's fair enough that these have to be recovered from his customers plus a reasonable hourly working rate otherwise he wouldn't have a business or a r4oof over his head! However, I do agree that actual spares should be charged at retail prices.

Wibplus is in a different situation in that he probably doesn't have very much in the way of overheads. I am in a different situation too, I do some writing and website work and use it to supplement my pension - I doubt if I could easily make a living out of it but I have to have a PC and associated software to do it and that costs a certain amount.

Colin (B)
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PMK

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2010, 12:13:29 am »

Quote
I just think that some people imagine that, simply because they trained in a particular field of expertise, they have the right to charge whatever fees they want. Value for money dosent seem to enter into the equation.

Ah, well since you put it that way, I see your point, find myself in 100% agreement with you. I guess I'm not the only one to notice that pretty much all tradesmen these days tend to charge anything which they think that can get away with, and value for money seems to have shot out of the window.
In my case, if I do a job for somebody, I like to think that I'm giving value for money. But most of the time I don't even receive a "thanks", let alone payment. So all my years of studying and learning is basically not worth a hoot - especially to the ones who don't like parting with a few shillings for my work or my time or even the cost of materials used.
On the other hand, I don't have a lot of overheads, so I have no reason to charge vast amounts.
Just out of curiosity, can I ask you three questions?...

1) You're a musician. What sort of musician? What instrument(s) do you play?
2) What was the replacement part of your TV which cost just £1.80?
3) Did you learn anything from the TV repair man... would you now be able to fix your own TV should it go belly-up again?

...that's if I'm not being nosy, of course.

Mr Regiment, we're all hi-jacking your thread.
Sorry, dude.
Let me know what sort of switch you're after. Perhaps I might have one in the spares box..
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regiment

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #13 on: November 16, 2010, 11:26:25 am »

post componet shop up to the value of £10 post is only £1  trouble do not sell switches
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dreadnought72

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #14 on: November 16, 2010, 11:46:38 am »

Following a call about a non-working oven from my step-daughter, I sourced the part (the main element) for <£20 online, including P&P, at 2pm that afternoon. It arrived the following day. It was fitted shortly thereafter. Why should I call in an electrician and pay through the nose to do the (relatively) obvious?

(The Element Man is the company. Highly recommended.)

Andy
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Lord Bungle

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #16 on: November 16, 2010, 01:26:10 pm »

a high post and packaging yes but the item is in vungtau, Vietnam so has a few miles to travel, I think what a lot of people are wound up about is when you get charged silly money for p&p and it turns up in a used jiffybag with a 2nd class stamp on it.
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #17 on: November 16, 2010, 01:33:54 pm »

look up Vietnamese postal prices they are even worse than Finnish ones lol
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Circlip

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #18 on: November 16, 2010, 01:55:37 pm »

Recently sent some M/E items to me mate in the Philippines by Airmail. Parcel weighed 100gms over the stated max weight  shown on Royal Mails Chart.

  2kg airmail small packet --  £23. 37. 

  2.1kg airmail small packet -- £50+

 Sent 1litre steam oil to Portsmouth First Class in March, not got there yet.

  Regards  Ian.
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essex2visuvesi

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #19 on: November 16, 2010, 02:00:26 pm »



 Sent 1litre steam oil to Portsmouth First Class in March, not got there yet.

  Regards  Ian.

I wonder if MI5 have a file on you now? :D

In all seriousness tho to post from Finland to the UK is almost double the price it is from UK to Finland.  So much for the EU levelling the playing field lol
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wibplus

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #20 on: November 16, 2010, 04:28:12 pm »



1) You're a musician. What sort of musician? What instrument(s) do you play?
2) What was the replacement part of your TV which cost just £1.80?
3) Did you learn anything from the TV repair man... would you now be able to fix your own TV should it go belly-up again?

...that's if I'm not being nosy, of course.



Not nosy at all PMK,
I trained initially on clarinet and saxophone, also had an interest in keyboards and percussion. Spent about twelve years working as a freelance session-man and teacher. When my teeth started to give trouble, I had to relinquish the wind instruments and concentrate on keyboards and a lot more in the way of teaching.  :-)

As regards the TV, the part which he replaced was a diode (I later replaced it twice more ) kept that same telly for about eight years afterwards.  :}
What I learned from the TV man was nowt much (we hardly spoke).   {:-{   What I learned from watching was how to repair the same fault twice more before the TV died completely.  :-))
If it were a case of diagnosing the fault ????    Nope.  :embarrassed:
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RaaArtyGunner

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #21 on: November 16, 2010, 09:03:22 pm »

I think what a lot of people are wound up about is when you get charged silly money for p&p and it turns up in a used jiffybag with a 2nd class stamp on it.

You are spoilt and getting good service.  %)

How about wrapped in cling wrap and barely legible adress labe,l P&P 30 actual 7.60 >>:-( >>:-( <*< <*<
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PMK

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #22 on: November 16, 2010, 09:39:54 pm »

So you play the reeds, the percussions, you're a session musician, a teacher AND you play the keyboard.
Respect!
Man, I wish I lived around your way; I'd be pestering you to teach me piano, a-la Colin Earl style (he of Mungo Jerry fame). In return I could give you all the diodes you need. Or perhaps we could have a jamming sesh' together (that's if you're into the six strings/fretboard scene). I gave up all hope of ever learning the keyboard many moons ago when I realised that you need to be clever.
Ref your TV problem: thanks for the heads-up - you've sated my curiosity. But like you say, the hard part is trying to locate the fault in the first place. The repair man needs to know what he's doing, has spent years learning his stuff, so in all honesty, I think the £46.00 repair fee was pretty reasonable. In comparison we have one particular repair shop around our way that will sting you for £60.00 even before they remove the back off the TV.

Session musican eh?
Did you know that Jimmy Paige began his career doing the same?
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Barry

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #23 on: November 16, 2010, 10:56:54 pm »

I wanted to order a 1:72 scale Spitfire kit from the Airfix website they wanted p & p 30 pounds to send it to Australia. Ended up buying two from an hobby shop in England 4.95 pounds postage for both of them, the kits were cheaper too. Needless to say I won't be buying direct from Airfix in the future.
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wibplus

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Re: Postage costs
« Reply #24 on: November 16, 2010, 10:58:36 pm »

Hi PMK,  never did get into frets (too rough on the fingertips)   O0 but had to learn the chord positions on the fretboard so I could watch their hands and synch the chord sequences. I can still know what guitarists are doing just by watching their hands. Very handy when wearing cans.  8)
There were quite a few names that went on from sessioning to better things. Usually a case of "right time,right place". Most just got by and did spare jobs as well. I did quite a bit of forklift driving in warehouse jobs to keep the wolf from the door.   %)   ok2
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