The NEW Virtual Seed Parcel

[Kristen]

https://www.royalmail.com/discounts-...e-postage/home

EDIT: THat's no good, I think its for a whole sheet of labels, pretty sure you can buy just one "stamp" online though??

[veggiechicken]

Since its a Seed Swap, the stamps are sent with the incoming seeds. I reuse the envelopes, where possible, and put the stamps on it.
Being Scrooge, I hate using the printer

[Kristen]

Ah, of course, hadn't thought of that. So no need to PDF and email and all that faff ... could the sender print the barcode-stamp, in lieu of a real one, and include with the seeds they are sending you??

[sparrow100]

Zelenina, if you are over in July can you buy a small stash of stamps, or get a friend to buy them for you? Perhaps ones for the current postage to Slovakia and some small denominations so you've got insurance for price rises for a year or two. That would solve the problem, though it does mean you'll possibly have to weigh some seeds at home to make sure the postage is right.

@Kristen - online stamps are date defined. There is a post-by date that is usually the next working day.

[Zelenina]

But I did send you stamps VC. More than enough because you sent one back in the package. Obviously I couldn't send them with my seeds because I posted them from Slovakia, but I sent them in a separate envelope when I was in England for Christmas, after you told me roughly how much it would cost. And I bought a few extras home with me for future use. So I can't see where the problem is.

[Guest]

I think it is a case of simplifying things for VC and minimising the time she spends on grapes seeds swaps. Zel if no one in the uk can take them in for you and forward them on them pm when you want to swap and I will take them in and forward them to you. I know it seems daft but if VC went to the post office for seed swaps she would be better to get a job there all the time involved

[Bigmallly]

One problem I forsee is that you do not know what your return parcel is going to weigh therefore you don't know what the cost will be.

[veggiechicken]

I've made up my mind - VSP seeds will only be sent to UK addresses.

Zelenina, sorting out the postage and 90 or so packets of seeds for you, over Christmas, was the catalyst to my changing the rules about how the VSP will operate.
I'm very sorry if you feel excluded but you are not the only Grape who lives outside the UK. I know that you have family in the UK and will send seeds to them but I am not going to send seeds abroad any more.
I do this voluntarily, in my own time, therefore I feel entitled to decide how it operates.

[Zelenina]

Thanks Norfolkgrey That's very kind of you. I might take you up on that some time. One of the places I go when I'm visiting in the UK is actually not terribly far from you.

And thanks to everyone else for your suggestions of solutions

I'm not sure why VC had to go to the post office, because I sent her 5 UK 97p stamps and she put 4 of them on the packet and returned the fifth. I had also provided her with a temporary UK address, but I wasn't there very long and she was too busy with puppies to make use of it, which is understandable. And I said I was wiling to accept far fewer packets of seeds than I sent in to make less work for her. Though she ended up sending me more than I expected

I didn't come here just for seed swapping, but it was a big factor in enticing me to join up and stop lurking. So it's quite disappointing to find the rules getting tighter all the time, and that I'm not allowed into the seed circle at all.

And yet there are a lot of old seeds in the VSP that might not germinate, so isn't it better to encourage more users and get fresher seeds.

[Zelenina]

Sorry our posts crossed VC. And sorry to cause you so much trouble. But I did say I didn't need 90 packets returned, and I was expecting much fewer when you told me that was far too many. But I had already made up 90 packets to send so I thought I might as well send them anyway.

[Zelenina]

Sure if that's your decision I'll have to accept it, even if i don't like it. I guess that's the end of this discussion. Looking forward to trying out the seeds I got anyway

[Nicos]

I think the main stumbling block is that you cannot send UK stamps in a SAE.

It's dead easy to ask someone in the UK to post some books of stamps to you. That's what I do if I run out.

I know it's a bit of a back and to with postage- but the seeds are 'free' after all- and boy...what a choice!

- you just need to plan ahead
simples!

[Lisasbolt]

You can also order them off ebay, i know more expensive but you can.

[sparrow100]

Just wanted to let you know there's a small glitch with the links on the first post of the lists. The links from Flowers downwards don't seem to link to the relevant posts, just to the initial post.

[sparrow100]

(guess what I've been doing over breakfast!)