would it be fair to charge those of us who live in rural areas higher charges for receiving letters? . . .
Yes, it certainly would be fair to pay more to
send (which I think is what you mean) mail that costs more to deliver. I would be glad of that, as I live in a mainly rural location & about 95% of the mail I receive, is unwanted "junk" mail. Anything that makes it too expensive to thrust rubbish through my letterbox, I regard as a GOOD thing. The problem for The Royal Mail, is that the system would be extremely complicated & expensive to run;
everybody's postal costs would have to increase significantly to pay for it. So the present system is probably the best.
Regarding "Large Letter" stamp cost, any letters more than 5mm thick OR larger than 240mm long by 155mm wide, attract the Large Letter charge. So a 1st Class letter weighing no more than 100g, costs 41 pence & a Large Letter weighing no more than 100g, costs 66 pence. As a rough guide sizes up to C5 attract the Standard Letter rate & anything much bigger (such as C4) attracts the Large Letter rate.
If a letter is delivered that has insufficient postage paid, the receiver has to pay the Second-Class charge PLUS a £1 Handling Fee.
Regarding the TV Licence Fee, I believe that if it were more affordable &, if necessary, the BBC reduced the number of TV channels it broadcast, there would be little argument about it. The problems are, that the BBC tries to
compete for ratings with everyone else, which is utterly ridiculous; it should serve the British Public, not seek to justifying paying its directors (et al) ever higher salaries.
The Licence Fee of £145.50 is a
massive sum to ask people on tight budgets to pay every year
. They already PAY for the commercial channels, so why should they be FORCED to pay for The BBC too, if they can't afford it & are prepared to forgo it?
That is tantamount to extortion & is ranked barely better than private wheelclamping in my "book". It is not as if there are no other options.
The BBC could become a subscription service, or it could be funded from general taxation, for instance. Alternatively, it could be
forced to reduce its Licence Fee to a set level (say £100 maximum), then it would have to fit that budget, just like the rest of us have to fit our own budgets!
Of course those people
not on sub-£10,000 per year incomes, or those with higher incomes & large mortgages or other debts, are hit hardest. Those
not in those categories can be excused for being so blinkered in their ideas; people usually only see things from their
own financial perspective.