Registered cover from Malaysia with bird stamps
Next on the line I have a cover from Malaysia sent by Elaine. One thing that never ends to amaze me when receiving covers, postcards etc. around the world, are postage rates in various countries. A registered letter from Malaysia to Finland cost 2.50 ringgits, a equivalent of 0.50€. If I would have sent a similar registered letter to Malaysia, it would have cost 7€ – that’s fourteen times more!
2009 Registered cover from Malaysia
The stamps on the cover are 2005 definitives decipting birds. The 50 sen stamps has White-rumped Shama(Copsychus malabaricus), and 1RM stamp has Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica, also known as Green-winged pigeon).
2005 Malaysia - Birds. Michel #1314 and #1316.
Many thanks to Elaine for the letter as well as the stamps included (both top and inside the cover).
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Here in Germany it would be at least 8,05 Euro. 6 Euro postage (because of the size) and 2,05 Euro registration fee.
Same story in Belgium:
postage 3.15 euro (big size and worldwide)
+ 4.60 (registration fee)
= 7.75 euro…
Actually you are incorrect. Just to clarify.
The 2.50 ringgits or 0.50€ is only for the posting fee based on destination and weight.
In order to get the letter registered. One need to pay for the postage charges which cost 4.10 ringgits includes registration fee (1.60 ringgits) and delivery (2.50 ringgits)
Hi Terrence,
OK… Here’s a question. Why is there no indication of the paid registration fee?
If I send a R-cover from Finland to Malaysia, I must stick stamps (or similar) worth of the registration fee on top of it (in addition of normal postage costs). And I have a pretty good gut feeling that this is how things are done in most (if not all) countries. However, this cover did not have anything else than 2.50 ringgits worth of stamps and the blanco R/Recommende sticker. So what happened to rest of stamps? Or does Pos Malaysia allow this kind of practise?
Thinking the worst…probably (I am not sure)the money paid for the registered mail goes to the pocket of someone…
As people have a saying: alas! bureaucrazy has to be beaten by corruption…thou!
Note: Beware of wikileaks!
Hi Keijo,
The sender is given a sticker which has the price tag for the cost of registration (don’t remember the exact one but probably around RM 3). So if the total postage is > RM 3 (say RM 5), you just need to put RM 2 worth of postage stamps on the cover. If the total postage is < RM 3, no stamps are needed.
Thanks for the explanation Tsung Fei.
But doesn’t this mean that Malaysian R-labels are essentially stamps (as they are used to pay and indicate postage costs)
If so, I assume they should be listed in stamp catalogs
LOL.
Hi Keijo,
Yeah they are sort of treated like valid “stamps” by the postal authority in Malaysia.