04 May 2010

GRO certificate cost, and price

There's a new issue of Peter Calver's LostCousins Newsletter online. It's full of good information.

The General Register Office responded to Calver's Freedom of Information request with the following summary of the costs relating to their certificate service.

Special paper and printing of the certificate ... 16p
Mailing a certificate ... 23p on average
Staff costs, IT, property costs, depreciation, bank charges, and 'support services' ... £8.86

As the organization is operating in a monopoly situation it, or rather its managers, have no motivation to explore whether reducing the cost of a certificate would increase demand so that they would make more money as Calver suggests.

Other items in trhe newsletter are:

Now We Are Six
GRO reveals costs - at long last
What will the largest surname study reveal?
Party leaders find their past
Researching Scottish Family History
Anyone still using credits?
Recording 1911 Census source information
Google works wonders
Royal Marine medal roll now online
FamilySearch beta site
Why I prefer old-style Ancestry searches
Findmypast heads down under
Peter's Tips
Have you tried…?

Read the newsletter at http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/may10news.htm

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same about Saskatchewan. They ask for $50.00 to print a death certificate. Would they not get many more requests if they charged less? Does anyone know a cheaper way to get a 1912 death certificate from Saskatchewan? Ancestry at the public library has provided me with free ones for Ontario up to 1934.

Anne S.