I am glad Lorraine Forbes highlighted the Royal Mail "scam" where a letter with insufficient stamps has to be collected from a sorting office, after the underpayment and a handling charge has been paid (Letters, March 17).

This has happened to me twice since Christmas. Apart from the inconvenience and expense of getting to the sorting office to collect the item, I feel this is a highly reprehensible way of increasing Royal Mail's profits.

I have found the way to combat this is not to collect the underpaid item. After three weeks the letter is returned to sender, at no charge. If everyone adopted a similar attitude, perhaps Royal Mail would think again as it would lose revenue.

With another rise in postage rates looming and the daily delivery time of post unreliable, the Royal Mail is turning into an expensive shambles.

We must not blame the hardworking postmen and women for this but their short-sighted bosses.

  • David Legge, Gladys Road, Hove