ROYAL Mail chiefs today urged people not to send cash through the post after complaints from Suffolk people that money was lost during the festive season.

ROYAL Mail chiefs today urged people not to send cash through the post after complaints from Suffolk people that money was lost during the festive season.

A number of residents expecting gifts of money from relatives were disappointed after letters failed to arrive or were damaged.

But the Royal Mail said the number of incidents was "incredibly small" – and strongly advised people not to send cash, but to use cheques or postal orders, or special delivery services which guarantee the delivery of a letter or package.

A spokeswoman for the company said coins were the worst problem as they jammed the high-speed sorting machines and sometimes ripped envelopes.

One Suffolk family lost out both ways after money being sent from America never arrived – and cash they sent to the USA vanished.

A member of the family from Old Felixstowe, who did not want to be named said: "My sister in Colorado sent us several cards for Christmas and birthdays in December and they all arrived safely except the card which had the money inside for the children's presents – that never arrived at all.

"We thought it was a shame but things do sometimes get lost in the post.

"Then we heard that the envelope of cards we had sent to Colorado had arrived but been opened en route.

"Whoever opened it tore open the card with the money in it for my nieces and stuffed the card back in, but empty, but did not touch the other cards in the envelope.

"We knew you really should not send money through the post but we have been doing it for more than 12 years with no problems. We have learned our lesson now though."

The Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "I cannot tell you what happened in these specific incidents but the amount of mail which goes missing is incredibly small – 0.005 per cent of the mail handled.

"We would though advise people never to send money through the post.

"Overseas post goes through several postal administrations and once it is handed over by the Royal Mail we have no control over it.

"With the sheer volume of items being handled at Christmas – 140 million a day – no members of staff have the time to rip things open. We are handling mail as fast as possible to make sure everyone gets their Christmas post.

"We do not open envelopes unless there is not a deliverable address and we need to investigate to find an address inside to return the envelope to the sender."

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