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Old 6th Apr 2022, 6:44 pm   #1
G6Tanuki
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Default COD: Cash on Delivery.

In the 60s, quite a few suppliers of small components [transistors, capacitors, resistors etc] offered a 'cash on delivery' service, where the postman would collect payment to an amount marked on the envelope.

I remember buying some 'red spot' and 'white spot' transistors and silver-mica capacitors for an unsuccessful regenerative receiver project this way in the late-60s; though the Royal Mail charged a fee for COD it could work out cheaper/more-convenient than that other thing-of-the-time the Postal Order.

Who else used COD? And when did it stop being available?
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 7:13 pm   #2
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I didn't know that Royal Mail ever got into this type of thing. The thought of a rushed, overworked and underpaid postie having to deliver a COD item, ask for cash and dole out change etc is quite baffling, though as you say it did, I'm sure it happened!
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 8:04 pm   #3
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Yes indeed, it was quite popular. I think I still have some cardboard boxes in my loft from Manor Supplies, with COD address labels on them (containing UHF converter plinths for the last real Murphy TVs - their “Astra” range of 1961-63).

I think COD petered out in the early 1970s.
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 8:11 pm   #4
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Cash on delivery. Remember it well. It's still possible in Germany. "per Nachnahme".
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 8:20 pm   #5
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

It's now actually Cash BEFORE Delivery as I've received, on more than one occasion, a demand for payment (duty, postage shortfall etc) before they will deliver!
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 8:21 pm   #6
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

COD yes very popular. Radiospares used it a lot. D & BTV used the service when supplying spares and LOPTs. See their old adverts in Practical television. The label had a red flash across the corner.
Too risky to carry cash today. John.
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Old 6th Apr 2022, 11:38 pm   #7
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I can remember suppliers offering COD, so it must have carried on into the mid 70s.
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Old 7th Apr 2022, 12:13 am   #8
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I suppose the increasing use of credit cards in the 1970's meant there was less demand for COD. Paying by credit card means the goods can be dispatched promptly with the seller being sure of receiving payment, while the buyer doesn't have to pay the money out up front, and has protection if the goods don't arrive.

I don't think I have had stuff delivered COD by Royal Mail, but have recently bought stuff like solid fuel on COD terms, paying the driver on delivery.

Last edited by emeritus; 7th Apr 2022 at 12:21 am. Reason: typos
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Old 7th Apr 2022, 4:03 pm   #9
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I suspect some traders found people using C.O.D. for low-value orders involved more hassle than it was worth; if you look back through old copies of Practical Wireless in the 'sixties it's quite common to find traders setting a minimum-order-value for COD orders.

I can quite understand this: the procedural paperwork to handle a COD order for five-and-elevenpence-ha'penny worth of 'used, tested' TV valves or whatever must have been considerable.

One of the big advantages of COD was speed; back in my youth if I wanted to get a Postal Order that meant waiting until the weekend before us kids were allowed-out to go to the Post Office, and if I got my Dad to write a cheque to the supplier they would often wait until the cheque had 'cleared' - which back then could take over a week - before despatching the goods.
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Last edited by G6Tanuki; 7th Apr 2022 at 4:31 pm.
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Old 8th Apr 2022, 10:05 am   #10
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Another Post Office service was 'Carriage Paid Forward' where the recipient paid for the actual postage and any charges at the point of delivery. I can't remember using that service when I worked at D&B television 1961-1966. The World was a different place. John.
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Old 8th Apr 2022, 11:29 am   #11
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I can remember getting parts from Donberg Electronics COD into the mid 90's.
If I remember correctly you could phone in your order (and talk to a real person) up until 9 PM. The order would be posted the following day. It was a great service back then.

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Old 8th Apr 2022, 12:43 pm   #12
kalee20
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Looking online it looks like the US postal service offer this, but no longer Royal Mail.
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Old 8th Apr 2022, 1:00 pm   #13
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

It still exists and is moderately popular here in Poland, though rarely for actual cash any more - it's all done by card or phone app. A company called InPost, who's the biggest operator of parcel lockers, offers a payment-on-delivery service that works either via their couriers or using a payment terminal at the parcel locker, so the recipient has to make the payment before the locker will open.

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Old 8th Apr 2022, 1:43 pm   #14
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

UPS Still offer a cash on delivery service by the looks of it.
https://www.ups.com/gb/en/shipping/s...added/cod.page
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Old 8th Apr 2022, 3:25 pm   #15
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

I watched a 2021 English cartoon the other day with my kids, "The Rubbish World of Dave Spud", and was intrigued to see Dave order a toy gun by phone, and then the postman arrive and take payment. There was an error and he ended up with a unicorn, but that's not really important.

Anyway, thank you to G6T for asking what I'd been thinking myself.
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Old 8th Apr 2022, 4:22 pm   #16
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Back in 2010 I wanted to buy a Philips / Pye B&W TV line output transformer from a shop in Portugal. C.O.D. was offered as one of the shipping options, but only within Portugal. At the time, the shop didn't accept PayPal or credit cards online; you could only pay by card if you went in the shop. Possibly C.O.D. is still available over there for that reason. (I eventually asked a friend in Portugal to buy the transformer on my behalf, and successfully restored the vintage TV).

I'm not sure when it stopped in the UK, but I suppose it's like Telegrams, International Reply Coupons and so on, when demand fell to a low level, the service was discontinued.

I always thought C.O.D. was safer than sending payment in advance, especially to a person or company you didn't know. But then I read a story (also in Portugal) about a person who bought a laptop computer C.O.D. He handed over the money to the postman and opened the parcel, only to find a laptop case filled with tins of cheap sardines to make up the weight. The Post Office wouldn't give him a refund, as they said they are not responsible for the contents of the parcel. The only course of action would be to take the seller to court.
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Old 11th Apr 2022, 1:25 pm   #17
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Oh! I should not laugh but that one really made me roar with laughter Hamid! I think it was the Sardines that did it but what made it worse they were cheap ones! Wicked. John.
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Old 12th Apr 2022, 7:34 pm   #18
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hamid_1 View Post
I'm not sure when it stopped in the UK, but I suppose it's like Telegrams, International Reply Coupons and so on, when demand fell to a low level, the service was discontinued.
Yes, it seems to have faded into obscurity and obsolescence, along with red telephone-booths, milkmen, winter smogs and lamplighters, though I've not been able to establish a precise date.

Perhaps a Freedom-of-Information request to the Postmaster General [or his/her successor] might reveal when COD stopped being a thing.
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Old 12th Apr 2022, 8:58 pm   #19
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Default Re: COD: Cash on Delivery.

At one time I worked in an antique shop. Sometimes we had to write a receipt with COD on it twice, Chest Of Drawers - Cash On Delivery. COD was the usual abbreviation for that piece of furniture.
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