new price for GRO certs

[onefortheroad]

Sorry Richarde. Just re-read your statement. You mean four between you . My mistake - but the rest still doesn't add up.

David

[les_looking]

i guess the programme to digitalise would also be for security and a backup system,
how many of us have read about a record that is no longer available because it was destroyed during the war,
or in a fire ie http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html
of flooded etc etc
so not sure that our records being made digital is a total waste of £££
i can see OLD bmd certificates online being an adavantage, (ie the lma) not sure for security how recent certificates could be made available would you want your latest child/grandchilds birth certificate instantly available,
lol in some schools we are not even allowed to take photos of our OWN family,
as this thread has proved you can please some of the people some of the time....................................

As for those who say people will order less, as has been pointed out a few times Family history is not the only avenue that uses the Gro, the same amount of people will still be born, married and die, i agree that some only want the information from a certifcate/records to move forward, myself i have always bought the certificates and will continue to do so, up until a couple of months ago i thought it had slowed as less people are found, but recently found my grandparents had relatives who were unknown, ie last week i ordered a FEW and paid monday and arrived friday, personally speaking if i had only found them after the price rise i would still order them, and i am sure lots will not be put off getting info' on a vital record for the sake of £2-25.

I wouldn't dream of assuming we are all the same, and each of us goes about things in a different way,
look at the debates about who will and won't pay for the 1911 census or baulk at Ancestry charges,
at the end of the day buying certificates IS a hobby for most and we all make the choice to buy or not, some have never bought at £7 and still have an opinion that the increase is scandalous, so as i say the rises WILL happen so you have to decide what is best for YOU.

[onefortheroad]

Thank you,Les.

Common sense prevails!

David

[Rah1980]

I would just like to point out to Richarde that the records are for England and WALES.

And to Les the reason you are not allowed to take pictures of your children in school has nothing to do with identity theft etc it is to prevent paedophiles from taking/getting hold of pictures and is completely irrelevant to the debate.

I think the long and the short of it is we will all just have to agree to disagree or else we will still be arguing when they next put the price up  

[richarde1979]

Richarde. I really do think you should sort your maths out (2x9.25=28 ?) before deciding that there's only a 'tiny minority' wanting the certified copies. Speak for yourself and put things in perspective:

The money it would cost to put all their records online as per GROS would be huge and then compound it with a reduction in prices? Where will they recoup their investment? This doesn't add up either!

David

David I think we will just have to agree to fundamently disagree on this.

 I am certain whatever the costs of digitising the certificates (barring the totally needless waste already incurred by poor planning and executing of such a system..we are assuming here they can  do it properly!)  they will easily recoup these costs, and then some, once the system is in place.

 This is not just based on my own experience of ploughing at least five times the amount of money north of the border into Scotlands People than I have done into the GRO over the past two years,  (In spite of my having at least treble the amount of English ancestors), but also that of several others researching with me who have without exception done like wise.

This makes me fairly certain in myself that the initial outlay would be well recouped, in fairly short time period, and eventually we'd have a system in place we are all far happier with, that would make the GRO profitable rather than loss making, and which would open up this hobby to the widest possible group of people, and make it inclusive, rather than close it down and make it exclusive, a massive backward step in my opinion.

I don't apologise for holding that view, it is certainly not because I am of the 'I want I get brigade' as some of the spiked comments suggested, and until that system IS put in place sadly really none of us can say if my view is right or not.
We are all guessing.

But we will certainly see by April next year, 12 months after the price change, whether their profit has gone up, or, alternatively, as I suspect they have continued and confounded their losses even further, as well as unfairly pricing out the poorer hobby genealogists.

If I'm not right about that I'll quite happily come back and eat humble pie, happy to admit when I'm wrong, but that is my reading of things.

[richarde1979]

I would just like to point out to Richarde that the records are for England and WALES.

And to Les the reason you are not allowed to take pictures of your children in school has nothing to do with identity theft etc it is to prevent paedophiles from taking/getting hold of pictures and is completely irrelevant to the debate.

I think the long and the short of it is we will all just have to agree to disagree or else we will still be arguing when they next put the price up  

Point accepted RAH. I have in general thought you have made some of the best points in this entire discussion. I apologise for leaving out the Welsh cousins, I have English, Scottish, Irish, and French ancestors..no Welsh yet, no deliberate offence intended!

[les_looking]

I would just like to point out to Richarde that the records are for England and WALES.

And to Les the reason you are not allowed to take pictures of your children in school has nothing to do with identity theft etc it is to prevent paedophiles from taking/getting hold of pictures and is completely irrelevant to the debate.

I think the long and the short of it is we will all just have to agree to disagree or else we will still be arguing when they next put the price up  

I did actually type out a bit more after that comment re the photos, but decided it wasn't needed and removed it and forgot that bit lol

Also not sure if it has anything to do with the increases at the GRO and can't see if anyone has mentioned it, but in April royal mail are also increasing postage prices (no before people say not by £2-25)
but would assume the yearly increases in the GRO's in postage charges will rocket, and in the last couple of years there have been massive royal mail increases that have not been passed on to GRO users.

[Rah1980]

No probs Richarde, just thought I would point it out.

I think it is perfectly normal that people hold different points of view but I too do not appreciate some people's comments ie common sense prevails - I am not stupid I just hold a different point of view and who are you to say whether or not I find the price increase acceptable or not? Comments of that nature make people feel intimidated, and in my opinion if you have to resort to comments like that It doesn't say much for your argument.

I appreciate your point about Royal Mail and as you said yourself it does not total £2.25 infact including the new price it has risen 11p since 2003, but as said I do understand that 11p per cert issue over 7 years does add up to a bit

[les_looking]

No probs Richarde, just thought I would point it out.

I think it is perfectly normal that people hold different points of view but I too do not appreciate some people's comments ie common sense prevails - I am not stupid I just hold a different point of view and who are you to say whether or not I find the price increase acceptable or not? Comments of that nature make people feel intimidated, and in my opinion if you have to resort to comments like that It doesn't say much for your argument.

I appreciate your point about Royal Mail and as you said yourself it does not total £2.25 infact including the new price it has risen 11p since 2003, but as said I do understand that 11p per cert issue over 7 years does add up to a bit

not wishing to speak for David who made that comment, but i am sure he did not mean it in that way,
if you read Richards comments he to you said "I have in general thought you have made some of the best points in this entire discussion" because obviously your views are similar and fair enough, but again i THINK David was just doing the same

lol why we are on about price increases and don't want to distract from discussion another company "altering" in April and many may not know, BT free evening calls move from 6pm to 7pm, so for those who didn't know and use it than could be an expensive hour