The savvy traveller was looking for a way to avoid hefty baggage fees
A ‘frugal’ woman posted a month’s worth of clothing via an InPost locker for just £2.59 instead of paying Ryanair’s £30 luggage charge on her flight. Laura Poole, 33, dodged the extra fee and packed her outfits into a gym bag, wrapped it in a Lidl carrier bag and deposited it at her local Tesco Express locker. She then flew from Bristol to Glasgow on 22nd February, paying just £57.48 for her return flights.
Laura, who was spending a month in Glasgow on business, sent “at least” five outfits including suit jackets and dresses, making a saving of £27.41 on the journey. She deposited her parcel on the Thursday evening before her Sunday morning flight and it arrived safely in Glasgow shortly after she did.
Taking inspiration from Vinted and their parcel delivery system, Laura has faced comments from trolls calling her “stupid”, but has also been praised as a “genius” online.
Laura, a public speaker and trainer from Cardiff, Wales, said: “I have better things to spend my money on. I actually did it before, this is the second time I’ve done it. So I knew it worked. I got the idea from Vinted because they’re using InPost lockers for that. I was curious and thought ‘I wonder how much it is?’ If it’s only that much for postage on Vinted it can’t be as much as Royal Mail.”
Laura continued: “I’ve always been really frugal and am part of the FIRE community – financial independence and retire early. Lots of people are super frugal and I have better things to spend my money on than really expensive baggage fees. I’m here for a month this time as well and I thought I’m going to need more than a backpack, so I got my gym bag, stuffed it with clothes and wrapped it in a Lidl bag and taped it up. People on Vinted send stuff in anything – I thought ‘that’ll do’.”
Laura also packed sufficient clothing to last her two to three days in her cabin rucksack. She explained: “I would not post anything that I loved. For example I’ve got a scarf I’ve had for 10 years and my grandad’s t-shirts – who is not around anymore. That stuff goes in my backpack. Obviously I don’t want to lose my clothes and there are lots of clothes in there. It’s insured for up to £50.”
She added: “My thought process is if anything goes wrong, or it doesn’t arrive in time, I’ve got time to buy news clothes. I do public speaking so I need to look good. Suit jackets, trousers, all sorts I threw it all in, dresses as well. I must have at least five different outfits and then loungewear and stuff as well”.
After posting her strategy on Facebook, the update quickly went viral. Laura remarked: “There are always trolls whenever anything goes that big and people are always negative, but overall I’ve never been called a genius so much in my life.”
When Laura returns from her trip next month, she’ll use the InPost locker system again and pocket an additional £27.41 in savings.
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