What happens if you put a normal stamp on a large letter

Forever Stamps were created by the United States Postal Service® (USPS®) in 2007. They are non-denominational First Class® postage, which means that they can be used to mail First Class letters no matter what the postal rate. For example, in 2013 it cost $0.46 to mail a normal-sized letter weighing one ounce or less to an address within the United States. In 2014, the rate increased to $0.49. Customers who purchased Forever Stamps in 2013 at the rate of $0.46 each may still use those stamps to mail their First Class letters today without adding additional postage to the envelope.

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Forever Stamps are ideal for mailing normal-sized, one-ounce letters within the United States. If you suspect that your letter may weigh more than one ounce, be sure to weigh it prior to affixing a Forever Stamp, as heavier letters will be returned due to lack of postage. For any domestic mail piece that weighs more than one ounce, you must include additional postage along with your Forever Stamp to ensure USPS delivery. Also, you may purchase higher denomination postage stamps for heavier postage at the Post Office™.

Avoid placing two Forever Stamps on a mail piece for heavier mail. Additional ounces are much cheaper costing only $0.24 per additional ounce rather than $0.60 for a one ounce letter. If you add two Forever Stamps to a 2 ounce letter, you would be paying for an item that should only cost $0.84.

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Many customers are confused by the new pricing system and feel that surcharges levelled against them are excessive. Phillip Inman reports

A note through your front door from Royal Mail says a letter is waiting for you at the delivery office. The note says that to retrieve your post it will cost 6p in excess charges and a £1 handling fee. Do you want to pay? It might be a flyer, a birthday card or a letter with a cheque inside. Take your pick, because Royal Mail won't let you see it until £1.06 is in the till.

In my case it was a birthday card. A very sweet card to my daughter from her cousin. However, the card was one centimetre too long and qualified as a "large letter". For that, she should have paid 42p for a large-letter second-class delivery - 6p more than the 36p first-class stamp she put on the envelope.

How many £1 surcharges has Royal Mail banked since it imposed a strict size on ordinary letters (240mm x 165mm)? Postwatch, the industry watchdog, recently launched an investigation into whether customers are being ripped-off by the charges. The review is unlikely to be finished before next month and will be published in the summer.

Unfortunately, Royal Mail has never kept figures on how much surcharges add to its coffers. It believes only a "very small fraction" of the total mail (a trillion items) is subject to a surcharge. It also believes there are few customer complaints about surcharging. If that is true - again there are no figures - it could be about to change in the not too distant future. A combination of increased automation at Royal Mail sorting offices, the closure of delivery offices and lazy card companies could result in a surcharging bonanza for Royal Mail.

Suspicion that Britain's letter delivery service is too distracted to care much about this issue are fuelled by recent reports that it is almost broke and ill-prepared to cope with rivals keen to cherry-pick its profitable services.

Part of the solution for Royal Mail, which is now split from the Post Office, is the rationalisation of delivery offices. It may be more efficient for Royal Mail to operate fewer delivery offices, but it means more people will need to drive or get a bus to pay a surcharge for something they may not want.

While undelivered post can be picked up at a local post office, surcharged letters must be collected at a delivery office. When I picked up my daughter's letter, it wasn't from the delivery office up the road because that closed last year. Instead I travelled to an office a mile and a half away, which was surrounded by parking meters. Money in the meter and cash on delivery for Royal Mail. It all adds up.

It would appear that plenty of people have fallen foul of the large letter-handling fees. Online forums and local newspapers are filled with stories of grandmothers who have had to cough up to collect 60th-birthday cards, and tutors having to pay to pick up their students' assignments because they have not put the correct postage on them.

On the Ukcampsite.co.uk forum, Debbie T tells how she had a card through the door to say there was some mail for her that did not have enough postage paid on it. She was expecting a wedding invitation, so she went down to the delivery office to collect it. "The card, which was very small, had a first class stamp on it. But I was informed by the friendly postie that it was too fat, as it had a small decorative flower on it. The unpaid postage was 6p, but they also charged me a £1 handling charge. If the wedding-guest list was 200 and the post office charged the same to every recipient of an invite, that will be £200 profit for the post office. What a con!"

Royal Mail has said it is the size and shape of letters that largely determines the costs of collecting, sorting and delivering them. It points out that similar pricing systems combining weight and size also exist in the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece and Italy. A spokesman says there is little incentive to surcharge because it costs more than £1, on average, to handle post outside the normal flow. Workers will also use their discretion when they see what is obviously a greetings card that is slightly over-sized.

But there is a problem here, too. Royal Mail is investing heavily in automated systems. At the moment, most postal workers put together their own bundles for their round. Increasingly, the sorting office will package the post in the sequence of a post round and workers will simply pick up the bundle and set off. Letters deemed too large will already be filleted and sent to the (not so) local delivery office.

Then there are the card companies. Most display a small symbol on the back of a card showing whether it is a standard letter or large letter (though whether many buyers will actually notice the symbol is open to debate). Walk into Clinton Cards or WH Smith and you will find that some card makers have adopted the scheme, while others have not. Cousin Donna's card was from Marks & Spencer and there was no symbol. However, an M&S spokeswoman explained that its cards carry a label on the cellophane wrapper which states whether it counts as a normal-sized or large letter.

Hopefully, Postwatch will have something constructive to say in its report, and the confusion that dogs our postal system can be cleared up.

· You can contact Postwatch by writing to FREEPOST POSTWATCH or by phoning 08456 013265. Have you been clobbered by large-letter handling fees? Email

Length: 240mm max
Width: 165mm max
Thickness: 5mm max
Weight: 100g max

Greetings cards, personal letters, postcards and bills are a few examples of items that are likely to fall into the Letter format, says Royal Mail.

Length: 353mm max
Width: 250mm max
Thickness: 25mm max
Weight: 750g max

A4 documents, CDs and DVDs in their cases, certificates, some large greeting cards with badges and most magazines fall into the Large Letter format. Royal Mail suggests people might want to consider folding A4 documents in half to fit into a C5 envelope. "This would bring it down to the Letter format, as long as it is still less than 5mm thick."

Length: over 353mm OR
Width: over 250mm OR
Thickness: over 25mm OR
Weight: over 750g.

There is no weight limit for items sent first class. The weight limit for second class items is 1,000g.

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