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East Coast Postage charges
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Failed Unit
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Yes - they will argue you can still collect from stations. However not much use in many rural areas where the station was no ticket issuing facalities like Market Rasen.
And indeed for me - I'll have to remember to collect when I'm in London as my nearest collect station is Leeds - a £4ish single fare away.
Lad Brookes
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Alternatively, you could use the booking engine of another TOC that had the same back-end, but doesn't charge for postage?
Failed Unit
Established Member
I will have to take a look at some of their other initaitives such as mobile ticketing and print at home. Like a lot of tocs they are only bothered about people that only use their trains and forget some people connect. Very disappointing considering who owns the TOC to discriminate against connecting passengers in this way. Although £1 postage is cheaper than the car park charges!
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But lose the online booking discount.
Unfortunately I'm often taking advantage of their 10% online discount.
Lad Brookes
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Ah, of course.
Sorry- I'd forgotten they offered that- I haven't travelled down the East Coast for over a year, and that was on an ALR.
will have to try to bundle up the purchases via the basket to put several through as a single transaction.
VT also charged postage last time I booked with them (previous time was also free)
& the papers reported the other day that stamp prices may be increased by up to 5p next year.
VT also charged postage last time I booked with them (previous time was also free)
& the papers reported the other day that stamp prices may be increased by up to 5p next year.
That's the last time I book with East Coast then! I don't normally buy their tickets anyway, so I won't lose any discount, I just like the interface.
Although...as I only live five mins from the station, I could colelct at the TVM there...hmm, but there's a principle involved here, I'd rather give my business to those TOC's that don't have postage charges added...hmmm, I don't know what to do!
Although...as I only live five mins from the station, I could colelct at the TVM there...hmm, but there's a principle involved here, I'd rather give my business to those TOC's that don't have postage charges added...hmmm, I don't know what to do!
LM then - same interface but no postage charge.
theblackwatch
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The postage charge is obviously a very new thing - i booked some tickets yesterday and there wasn't a charge. For me, I would have to travel 20 miles at a cost of around £6-7 to collect tickets if I didn't happen to be passing at some point before making the journey I'd bought the tickets for. Not impressed.
ushawk
Established Member
Southern do online booking too, free postage and the "ticket on departure" service. Also doing a free refund offer at the moment. £10 to get your money back otherwise.
Failed Unit
Established Member
That is the thing with TVMs I would not trust them on the day of travel in case the didn't print, had a fault etc. You may not have time at the connecting east coast station to rectify the situation and you can't travel with a reference. In many cases east coast are going to lose more in commision if the do this than they gain in postage.
WestCoast
Established Member
Yes they are free to charge what they like use london midland they use exactly the same interface although you won't get the same 10 percent advance fare discount. That is if you are booking an EC advance fare.
theblackwatch
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I've just booked another ticket with EC via there website and the First Class post option was free!
Just had a read of the "more info" tab on the delivery selection page. Turns out if your origin station does not have ticket collection facilities they will not charge you postage. If it does then £1 fee applies. Which whilst I'm still not happy about it is at least a half decent compromise.
This begs the question, if there is a single available for less than £1 from a station without a TVM and you still want the East Coast discount on Advance tickets making it worth purchasing from that website, could you purchase this as well and then get free delivery saving a very small amount if you want delivery?
This general change does disappoint me though and so I will almost certainly use another website with the same layout that doesn't charge for delivery unless travelling on East Coast routes. As others have said, I guess that all websites will start charging eventually...
This general change does disappoint me though and so I will almost certainly use another website with the same layout that doesn't charge for delivery unless travelling on East Coast routes. As others have said, I guess that all websites will start charging eventually...
Ah, that's interesting - I booked a mix of tickets, including a London-Doncaster and a Steeton & Silsden- London. I'm wondering if it either realises where your first journey is from or looks to see if any of them are from collectable stations. some of my journeys it offered print-at-home tickets (which is a first for me) but I didn't see the point if I have to go collect the rest anyway.
Excellent find. Poppleton doesn't have collection facilities. I therefore won't be buying any tickets from York station!
theblackwatch
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Yet just over 2 hours ago I bought tickets originating at King's Cross and was offered (and accepted!) free postage. :-?
Could it go by your postcode or your history of stations booked from or something? Sounds very odd.
First class
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I still think that £1 isn't really a rip off.
It's costing the company about 40p for actual postage, then you have 60p worth of printing the tickets, staff costs, whereas with a TVM it's all automated so costs are lower...
If there is a free option, (either book at station or collect from TVM), then you are making the personal choice of wanting the most expensive delivery method...
It's costing the company about 40p for actual postage, then you have 60p worth of printing the tickets, staff costs, whereas with a TVM it's all automated so costs are lower...
If there is a free option, (either book at station or collect from TVM), then you are making the personal choice of wanting the most expensive delivery method...
theblackwatch
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Surely book at station is the most expensive method - the cost of providing a ticket office, staffing it etc?
Perhaps it looks at the facilites for the station nearest your post code rather than the station your journey starts from?
One thing did strike me - if I opt to print at my local station then those machines are run by FCC - does FCC get reimbursed by EC for the cost of printing these tickets? if you pay EC £1 to post, then you pay EC for the printing. if you opt for collection then in many cases FCC or Northern etc gets these costs instead.
One thing did strike me - if I opt to print at my local station then those machines are run by FCC - does FCC get reimbursed by EC for the cost of printing these tickets? if you pay EC £1 to post, then you pay EC for the printing. if you opt for collection then in many cases FCC or Northern etc gets these costs instead.
90019
Established Member
What if it costs you more than £1 to get to and from the station to pick up tickets?
I may be going to Edinburgh in January, and I found that postage is free if I get a ticket from Poppleton in my basket. On my return, the ticket is not available on my chosen train to Poppleton as it suggests a later train, so I put a ticket Edinburgh to York in my basket, but that doesn't matter. Just the fact I have one ticket from Poppleton in my basket is sufficient to waive the £1 fee.
However as soon as I remove the ticket from Poppleton from my basket, the fee jumps up to £1.
This hike should not affect me, but someone who books from a station that doesn't have rural stations near them may be unable to do the workaround, in which case I advise you to use London Midland's website.
However as soon as I remove the ticket from Poppleton from my basket, the fee jumps up to £1.
This hike should not affect me, but someone who books from a station that doesn't have rural stations near them may be unable to do the workaround, in which case I advise you to use London Midland's website.
Don't think so - neither of my nearest 2 (or nearest 12 or so actually!) stations offer pick up but I am offered a postage charge.
The issuing location receives a payment (around 50p per transaction IIRC) for each ToD issued, be that through a TVM or at a Ticket Office. The original retailer, meanwhile, receives a commission for selling the ticket, the amount of which varies between 0 and 9% depending on ticket type and whether it was sold online or through a Telesales Office.
Cheers,
Barry
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