new price for GRO certs

[onefortheroad]

Good point about funding,Andy.

I think I'd rather have a free health service and expensive death certificates than the other way round.

David

[les_looking]

Which just proves the system, in a digital age, is hopelessly outdated and IS the problem, not the pricing. I only assume the people who regard nine pounds as good value for a single certificate have no ancestors outside England and Wales, and this view is the result of a genuine unawareness of the much better, and fantastically cheaper or even free systems in place in many places outside our borders.

As Cell says above you are now getting into assuming what people think and their motives,
as someone who has travelled to the Ukraine, travelled over 200 miles to London a few times,
i have many certificates we started collecting (IN PERSON) from the 80's from various records offices, i like to think i can calculate what in MY OPINION is VFM,
i do a lot of my research online now and yes would be great if EVERYTHING was cheaper, i am pretty sure those years ago for many of these certificates i have the cost was £10 maybe more? so the cost under the new prices delivered is still cheaper,
i just think your assumption because others have a different view and are naive is unfair.

[MaryA]

There has been a lot of spouting about the GRO being badly run and so losing this £6+ million pounds, but not one real fact to substantiate this.

Have you been to the GRO?  They have regular open days, perhaps you should take the opportunity and see the massive amount of archives that are needed to be looked after and kept at a regular temperature to preserve the documents, some of the areas are restricted to the public for just that reason.  A lot of care is taken to look after all these archives FOR YOUR BENEFIT.

After seven years surely they are entitled, by charging a realistic price, to recoup some of the losses they have incurred by subsidising YOUR hobby, and hopefully get them back into the black.

And as for going more than 20 miles to get a certificate from a "Local Reg Office" have you never heard of stamps? send them a letter and support your local post office while doing so.

Apart from one or two people, I suspect my name is going to be mud around here after that.

[Silvilocks]

Apart from one or two people, I suspect my name is going to be mud around here after that.

Not with me  Agree with you completely!

[Nick29]

Apart from one or two people, I suspect my name is going to be mud around here after that.

Not at all - you're entitled to your opinion, but I think you are losing sight of one vital fact - genealogists (amateur or otherwise) are just one set of many users who make use of the GRO.

[poolqwizrd]

Well my first question to you mary would be how much do these open days cost to provide, i dont care how they run or how they work, all i want is fast certs at a fair price, just like i dont care how a certain company manage to provide my broadband my satalite and my phone line, as long as its good quality at a good price

[Silvilocks]

i dont care how they run or how they work, all i want is fast certs at a fair price, just like i dont care how a certain company manage to provide my broadband my satalite and my phone line, as long as its good quality at a good price

 

I can think of several replies to that, but suspect I'd be wasting my time in typing them.

I must admit that a large number of responses across the various threads on various forums on this subject, have confirmed my suspicions that a large number of people now expect hobbies to be subsidized, whether by the anonymous 'taxpayer', or by other researchers, Happily, I've seen enough responses giving another point of view to convince me that the "I want, must have" brigade aren't a majority yet 

 

[Rah1980]

What is so wrong in expecting value for money, and stating that some of us are not happy at the price increase? I do not expect to have my 'hobby' subsidised but let us not forget that these documents are not kept for our enjoyment but as a necessity of the government and therefore the cost of housing them should be paid for by the tax payer of which I am one. I wish I was in the financial situation where I did not care about the sudden 32% rise and I do fail to see how it costs £9.25 to produce a document and post it out to me. Perhaps if it was ran better there would not be such a deficit for example I have never ordered just one cert from the gro but have the certs ever arrived in one envelope no they have all come seperately so I recieve 5 or so envelopes with 5 lots of postage.

I also think that in this day and age the documents held by the GRO should be digitalised and made available on a government pay per view website similar to Scotland. I appreciate that there would be an initial outlay but in the long run they would run at a profit. In fact if they put a bit of effort into it they could find people willing to work on the project for free, I know I for one would transcribe documents if it meant that the documents would be available for all, but there is just to much red tape these days and not enough thought. 

[akanex2]

 Hi,  GRONI (Northern Ireland's Gro)  is far more expensive than England and Wales GRO ( where 50% of my ancestors are from, my mum is N  Irish and my dad is Welsh)
I've been paying 11 pounds for a certified cert for the past few years with no postage charges on top From N Ireland Gro online ordering service ( I'm in Aus), whilst my certified  certs from the England and Wales Gro have been only 7 pounds  - Groni 's current costs are  12 pounds plus postage costs on top, - still far more expensive than England and Wales . Don't assume people who think 9 pounds is good value have no ancestors outside England and Wales.

Kind Regards

Cell - while the cost of certified certs in Northern Ireland IS more expensive tha E&W, at least you [may] have the option of a transcription of the entry for only £3 [only available to callers to the Belfast search room].  I think people are prepared to pay more for convenience where a GRO is not accessible from where they live, but many object to the withdrawal of a cheaper service to those who can invest their own time, rather than money, to keep down the costs of research.

It's a balance of cost against convenience and that will colour anyone's view of what is a reasonable charge.  It is the removal of the lower cost/more work option which is the problem for many people, not the issue as to whether the GRO should be subsidised.