On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:24:45 GMT, Chris Tolley
wrote:

Remind me, Neil - how much interest were you going to get on this fiver
that TfL are getting to keep?

Hint: Look down the back of your sofa. You'll probably find the mythical
lost interest there, and more besides.

It is the principle, not the amount, in this particular case.

Neil

--
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Neil Williams wrote:
On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:24:45 GMT, Chris Tolley
Remind me, Neil - how much interest were you going to get on this fiver
that TfL are getting to keep?
It is the principle, not the amount, in this particular case.

But what is the principle? It's effectively no different from buying a
book of ten stamps when you only have an immediate need for one, is it?

--
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On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 22:29:49 GMT, Chris Tolley
wrote:

But what is the principle? It's effectively no different from buying a
book of ten stamps when you only have an immediate need for one, is it?

You are not penalised for buying one stamp on its own instead. The
price of a book of 12 stamps is 12 times the price of one.

Neil

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Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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Neil Williams wrote:

But what is the principle? It's effectively no different from buying a
book of ten stamps when you only have an immediate need for one, is it?

You are not penalised for buying one stamp on its own instead. The
price of a book of 12 stamps is 12 times the price of one.

The point Chris is trying to make is that like Oyster, it is for
convenience. The only difference is that TfL are offering you a financial
benefit as well as convenience with Oyster whilst the Royal Mail aren't
with stamp books.

--
Phil Richards
London, UK
Home Page: http://www.philrichards1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 08:19:49 +0100, Phil Richards
wrote:

Neil Williams wrote:

But what is the principle? It's effectively no different from buying a
book of ten stamps when you only have an immediate need for one, is it?

You are not penalised for buying one stamp on its own instead. The
price of a book of 12 stamps is 12 times the price of one.

The point Chris is trying to make is that like Oyster, it is for
convenience. The only difference is that TfL are offering you a financial
benefit as well as convenience with Oyster whilst the Royal Mail aren't
with stamp books.

Except that if you buy a book of 1st Class stamps before a price-rise
for basic 1st Class, the "old price" stamps are still valid at the
"new price."
--
Nick Cooper

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Nick Cooper wrote:

Except that if you buy a book of 1st Class stamps before a price-rise
for basic 1st Class, the "old price" stamps are still valid at the
"new price."

The same could be said about the Saver 6 tickets which could have been
bought at the old price before the fares went up and used after.

--
Phil Richards
London, UK
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Clive

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005 23:35:34 +0100, Phil Richards
wrote:

Nick Cooper wrote:

Except that if you buy a book of 1st Class stamps before a price-rise
for basic 1st Class, the "old price" stamps are still valid at the
"new price."

The same could be said about the Saver 6 tickets which could have been
bought at the old price before the fares went up and used after.

True. It's only a recent thing, though - I'm fairly sure that 1st and
2nd class stamps used to have the price printed on them, so if you had
a load and the price went up you had to go to the Post Office and buy
a load of 1 or 2p stamps to be able to use them.

Neil

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On Thu, 6 Oct 2005 08:19:49 +0100, Phil Richards
wrote:

The point Chris is trying to make is that like Oyster, it is for
convenience. The only difference is that TfL are offering you a financial
benefit as well as convenience with Oyster whilst the Royal Mail aren't
with stamp books.

I'd agree with that up until now. For the new Tube fare, AFAIAC, they
are offering a significant financial *disbenefit* in the form of an
unreasonably[1] high fare.

Compare it with, for instance, the Post Office raising the price of a
first class stamp to gbp1 if bought individually, or the current price
if bought in a book of 12, for which one must give a gbp3 deposit for
the return of the empty book. I know it's not a perfect comparison,
but it makes one think.

[1] I fail to see how anyone can consider, in itself, gbp3 as a
reasonable fare for a short-distance Tube single.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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Neil Williams wrote:

[1] I fail to see how anyone can consider, in itself, gbp3 as a
reasonable fare for a short-distance Tube single.

I don't think that a cash fare of GBP3 is intended to be seen as
reasonable. It is set at that level to encourage people to use
alternative methods of payment.

--
John Ray, London UK.