Genealogy Chat

Just been looking at the spare (wrong) certificates thread and it occurred to me that the GRO must be well in profit with all the recent surge in interest of Family History. Just seeing how many unwanted certs. here is mindblowing! Am I the only one thinking that they should now reduce the price of the certificates? Perhaps we should start a campaign!

I would like to have Scottish relatives everything is so much easier to access and much more information (according to my friend who has them). I am not so bothered about the price, I just wish that they used the extra revenue to bring in more staff during these busy periods because I had this weekend penciled in to do research based on certs that are late to arrive.

URMMM But they are only sending out certs for the GRO's requested so they no idea if these are right or wrong. I guess they have priced their service on all aspects of their overheads so cant see them going down,if anything with wage rises ,overheads etc they could go UP. Speaking as a retired acountant!!

I very much doubt it. No idea how much it costs to search, find, produce a cert, check it and put it in an envelope and post it, but I don't suppose there's much change left over from £7.00. Remember they have to pay storage facilities, computer maintenance etc, paper, envelopes and so on. That's before they worry about staff salaries, insurance, sick pay, benefits, pension schemes.... It costs the same amount to do whether they send the right cert or the wrong cert. You can tell that they can't be raking it in because of that other place that charges £19.95 per cert - they must be making a profit. nell

From the FRC website: 'Certificate fees are required to be set at a level whereby the full cost of providing the service is recovered from income. In other words, GRO aims to ensure neither a profit nor a deficit.' nell

I wasn't saying that the GRO should know if the certs are wrong! All I am saying is that it seems a bit sad that we are forking out so much money unneccesarily - this site is after all only the tip of the iceberg as far as Family research goes, so I imagine that revenue from this is a nice little earner! Perhaps there should be a bulk discount! Allie

GRO does offer the facility to check the cert against info you're fairly sure should be on it, to minimise the chances of sending you the wrong one.

Allie a) if the GRO have to provide certs at cost then they are not making any money at all. b) if people order the wrong certs then sometimes it can be avoided, if they ask for a checking point. I agree though that working out which John Jones who died in Glamorgan sometime in the 1880s is the right one, is a problem. When the digitisation of the indexes is complete, it should help as I believe they will include age at death for all certs (not just those after about 1865), maiden name on all births (not just those after 1912) etc. But sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. I am sure we've all ordered the wrong certs, either through not being able to verify who it is in advance or by giving the wrong quarter or page. That's life. The registrars made mistakes, the census enumerators made mistakes, goodness knows our ancestors made mistakes. I must say that I have generally had a really good service from the GRO, fast and efficient. Ordering online is a great benefit. nell

Nice idea Bulk Buy discount,but I guess it doesnt decrease the work GRO do to produce the certs

Well at least bulk buy would save on postage? I agree that they do a very good job - they themselves must be surprised that their jobs are so secure now with all the new business! Allie x

Considering the cost of extra temporary staff let alone permanent staff, postage, paper and overheads, I reckon they are making very little indeed on the certs and it worries me that they may even now be thinking about making it more cost effective - aaargh.

The answer, Allie, is to wait. Once the new system comes in,in a couple of years time, the information, which will not be certified, will be cheaper. As the indexes will have spouses' surnames, age at death etc, there will be less likelihood of buying the wrong certificate. Nothing, however, will prevent a few of us purchasing duplicates!