Royal Mail!

Right!

*rolls up sleeves, hefts frying pan in a menacing way*

I'm back, and I'm not here to rant about such wishy-washy topics as religion and politics. No, I'm going in straight at the top with ROYAL MAIL! May they fry on the pitchfork of Satan's little helpers and never win at Angry Birds!

I work from home and I have a PO Box address for my business. I don't use it for much, to be honest. Most of my communication is electronic. The main purpose of it is to avoid having to list my home address on my website whois or my promotional materials.

The first year I set it up, it cost the princely sum of £62.85 to have a PO Box for 12 months. It was another £62.90 for the convenience of having the mail that was delivered to that PO Box forwarded to my house, giving a total of £125.75. Okay.

The second year it was £125.75 again. Marvellous.

The invoice for the third year has just arrived. £200. That's an increase of more than 50% ! It would see me paying about £10 for every letter I receive!

Once I'd finished choking, I went to the website. I'd decided to halve the cost by removing the delivery service - I'd just have to go and collect my post in person from the sorting office.

Nope. Turns out that the Box-only service has jumped from £62.85 to £170, or to put it another way, it has more than doubled.

So, while I settle myself down to researching alternative mail forwarding services and new business cards, I'd like to open the floor to anyone who wants a vent about Post Office queues and "missing" packages, because I have entirely lost my inclination to defend the weaselly gits.

__________________
Virtually Mary - Virtual Assistant Services
Follow VirtuallyMary on Twitter

Mary is back in the house and on top form!!!!!!!

Do you have an accountant? A lot of them will let you use their address as your registered address, for things like your website who is, or maybe a virtual address. I know Indizine runs a virtual address service, may be worth checking out?

http://www.mylocalforums.com/village...-50-month.html

__________________
cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban

It does look like a virtual address is the way to go. I found a few of them, all with different pricing structures. Just got to pick one and then sort everything out before my existing PO Box expires in the first week of January (starting everything with the calendar year seemed such a clever idea when I was setting up).

An American friend tells me it's not just here, though. Apparently PO Boxes are the most expensive real estate per square inch in her State.

__________________
Virtually Mary - Virtual Assistant Services
Follow VirtuallyMary on Twitter

Hurrah!! About time we had some decent rants!

I must say, I've always thought the Royal Mail were great but in the last year the postal system seems to have somewhat deteriorated. Though some of the missing parcels I've had have been posted overseas so I don't know if they've gone missing in Royal Mails hand or some other foreign postal company...

So, Virtually Mary could have a Virtual Address. Does that mean you'll only be able to have Virtual time off?

__________________
Web: mrb design
Twitter: mrbdesign

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance

I wonder how virtual time off would work?

Time off that is not in the same physical environment as the person using it.

Like accrued Time Off In Lieu, maybe?

I think before any more virtual philosophy I need to finish my very real, very lovely, not-virtual-at-all first cup of tea of the day.

__________________
Virtually Mary - Virtual Assistant Services
Follow VirtuallyMary on Twitter

Postman just leaves parcels outside my front door if no-one in, some of these have been signature required parcels worth a few bob. All he does is gets next door to sign. Makes me wonder if any do go missing

AAh the ROyal Mail indeed, I've found that registered post takes twice as long to arrive compared to an item posted by second class mail. Work that one out!

Does anyone still use second class mail?
Almost never receive a letter with a second class stamp on it, and must admit I haven't bought one in a year or so.

Yep, anyone who wants a snail mail invoice, or any docs for HMRC

__________________
cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban

Did you get a virtual address service sorted?

__________________
Virtual Office Address
Registered Office Address
Mail Forwarding Service