Ordering documents from Kew

[Jebber]

Horsleydown86, are you saying the £8.40 comes off the end cost? When I read the fees page, it gave the impression otherwise. Hence my dismay.
I have to disagree about the fee being reasonable. These are archivists who are paid to look after the documents and to respond to enquiries. If the fee is deducted from the total cost then perhaps it is more reasonable. If it is not, then I stand by my remarks of highway robbery.
For people from afar, with no chance of going in person, it is unreasonable.

And where do you think the money for their wages comes from?  And the money for all the other overheads? 
It costs a lot to provide these services, and it seems fair to me that some of the cost is borne by people who actually use them.

I too think the charges are reasonable, perhaps you think the British taxpayer should subsidies out hobby.

It is not just Kew, all the other County Archives come under the same umbrella and have to be funded, a lot of the money comes from Foundations, without their help we would be in trouble.

Without the partnerships with commercial companies we wouldn’t have access to so much on line, then costs to us would be so much greater. Those of us unable to get to the Archives would have to engage professionals, then the costs really would rocket.

[Jomot]

I also think it's reasonable.  The number of speculative enquiries they get must be huge, and so an 'up front' search fee + a low cost copying fee seems an entirely sensible way of doing things.

[KGarrad]

I have to disagree about the fee being reasonable. These are archivists who are paid to look after the documents and to respond to enquiries.

Many Archives and Record Centres no longer offer enquiries!
E.G. the Manx Museum stopped offering such a facility a few years ago.

So now they point you in the direction of Independent Researchers - who will chanrge far more than the £8.40 quoted.
I know because I AM an Independent Researcher!

[pinefamily]

If as Horsleydown 86 has suggested that the up front fee comes off the total cost, then I stand corrected about the reasonableness of the fee.
It seems I am in the minority. I fully understand costs and other factors for these institutions, but too often in my opinion these fees are set by bureaucrats in their little offices.
But thank you to everyone who has joined in the discussion. It's threads like this that make Rootschat the great forum that it is.

[horselydown86]

If as Horsleydown 86 has suggested that the up front fee comes off the total cost, then I stand corrected about the reasonableness of the fee.

I have corrected that suggestion in my Reply #7.  The Page Check Request charge doesn't come off the total cost under the current (2019) conditions.

[diplodicus]

Dear "pinefamily",

Perhaps it might help if  I explained the current set of publicly-funded services in the UK?

Over the past few years, the UK government has tried to reduce our ridiculous borrowing habits and has restricted any increase in allocation of public funds, especially to local government (county district and city counciis). These organisations receive the bulk of their funding from central funds rather than through local rates or taxes. As costs and populations have grown, the outcome is a reduction in per capita funding. All local public services have been adversely affected and many services funded from central government. The National Archive will have felt the chill wind of "austerity" and had to make unwelcome decisions. This has been the case now for many years. See this article from 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/24/national-archives-cuts Things can only have got worse. Parking charges at hospitals, reduced opening hours, "consolidation", all have been the local services landscape for a long, long time.

I am not making a political statement here and I do hope that a long stream of pro or anti government invective does not follow.

[pinefamily]

Diplodicus,
Thanks for the wider explanation. 
I should have thought that through before venting my frustration.
Things are very similar here in Australia, with a user pays mentality. We have a creaking three tier system that is out of date: federal or national, state, and local (council) government.
Cheers