An Post's Address Pal service

[diggernotdreamer]

I just signed up to the new service from An Post, the Irish postal service. For those of you who do not know, lots of places will not post to Ireland or if they do, we pay ridiculous postal charges. Now I can order from UK companies, have my goods sent to my uk address which they provide you, it is then forwarded to Ireland and ends up in the post office in my village and I can redeem my item for 3.50 euro. I tried it out and was the first person to use the service in my village and I was surprised it actually worked, got my item the same week I ordered it. There are size limits but not too small. I can now order seeds and spuds etc that I would not usually be able to afford to get sent here.

[Green Aura]

I wonder if they'd consider opening a branch in the Highlands - we still get shafted for Extra "non-mainland" deliveries!

[doofaloofa]

Cool

fair play to An Post for changing with the times

[Odsox]

That's interesting DnD.
I also got a card in the post promoting this service, but haven't got round to looking into it further yet.
Mainly because most of the stuff I order from the UK is round about that price anyway and gets delivered to my door, instead of having to go 10 miles to collect it from my post office.
I get stuff from Amazon too and that's always free delivery, but as you say an order from Real Seed Co would make it worthwhile.

[diggernotdreamer]

I use click and collect from Argos as well, being on the border we can slip over and use that, some things the prices are not any different, but some places will not deliver to Northern Ireland or Ireland, so this gets round that problem completely. For really big things, there is a place 20 miles away that will take in washing machine size parcels for 3 quid, so we have to use lots of different methods to get things to here, there is so much stuff that you can't get here

[Odsox]

I'm now registered.
Of course this is only really useful for firms that won't deliver outside mainland UK or offer free delivery inside UK.
Otherwise it's €3.50 on top of whatever they charge for UK postage.
But could still be handy

[harðfiskur]

with online purchases increasing by sure for the next few years, deliveries services better get fast, reliable and cheap.

[ina]

I wonder if they'd consider opening a branch in the Highlands - we still get shafted for Extra "non-mainland" deliveries!

And you do know that Aberdeen counts as "Highlands", too? At least with some companies... Anything north of Dundee is "remote". I'm always glad our village has a Dundee postcode - although it's in Aberdeenshire!

[Green Aura]

It's ridiculous, Perth companies charge us the highland surcharge, ina!

[diggernotdreamer]

Do you get charged surcharges by the Royal Mail or just courier companies, I have noticed a lot of surcharges to Highlands and Islands on ebay

[Green Aura]

Parcel Force, which is part of Royal Mail (I think) does but the ordinary post doesn't.

[Odsox]

but the ordinary post doesn't

Maybe not for much longer.
When Royal Mail was sold off it only has to honour the Universal Service Obligation until 2021 (10 years)
It's eating into their profits, and you can't have that, otherwise it would be a service instead of a business.

[diggernotdreamer]

I guess Northern Ireland would be a drain, you can post anything from there or have stuff sent to there for normal parcelforce prices

[Green Aura]

I know Tony. It's a slight worry, in addition to what will become of our Post Office, which I can't see as being profitable enough for big business.

The Highland surcharge stems from the time when there was a "man with a van" who came to these parts once a week. Nowadays there are several national carriers who come here several times a week, if not daily, so it should be integrated into their normal pricing but of course it isn't.

[ina]

It's ridiculous, Perth companies charge us the highland surcharge, ina!

Argh! Sometimes I want to give them a few geography lessons...