With Royal Mail’s new pricing structure Richard at UK Postage has been quick to launch an updated Postage Calculator UK iPhone app.
We’re already receiving emails at Tamebay Towers from eBay and Amazon users who have been to the Post Office today and discovered that pricing has changed with comments like “I am disgusted to have just had to pay £5.60 for a medium size parcel, second class signed for, when something this light in weight would usually cost me £3.15!!!“. It would appear that Royal Mail’s marketing either didn’t get through to everyone, or wasn’t easy to interpret the size changes and new price structure and realise quite what price people would be paying from today.
If you’re an iPhone user for just £1.99 the Postage Calculator UK iPhone App will give you the up to date rates at your finger tips. It covers First and Second Class, Recorded (Signed For), Special Delivery, Parcel Force, Airmail and Surface mail and will save any nasty surprises when you get to the front of the queue in the Post Office. You can download direct from iTunes or via the Postage Calculator UK website.
Today will be the first day that retailers have been using the new Royal Mail contracts and pricing. Do let us know how you get on at the Post Office or with the new postage rates on the Royal Mail software.
51 Responses
Our Royal Mail rep finally turned up last week to tell us what the price increases would mean for us.
A little disappointing to be honest as we haven’t had time to change or update all our prices.
Sadly our free postage will all now have to be sent as second class instead of 1st class as we just can not accommodate the price increase.
From what he said it looks like parcels will be filtered off into Parcel Force over the next couple of years and RM will just deal with letters and large letters!
I do have to chuckle when I still hear people say how the overheads for an online business are much cheaper than offline…..not anymore!
Lots of complaints from people in queue – also post office staff not aware of 16cm cube exception so wouldn’t allow my very small parcel (a lot less than 16cm cubed) to go as small – had to be sent as medium, because it didn’t fit though their ruler – just found out they were incorrect, not very happy!!
Longer and slower queues at my local post office. The staff were really confused (not aware of exceptions for 16x16x16 cubes for example) but helpful and nice as always. We almost had to measure every single parcel to decide what category they fit in. When you think about it, it takes about twice as much time to serve a customer who has a parcel because not only do you have to weight the parcel but now you have to measure it too. The sub-postmaster was quite angry with Royal Mail and kept calling them “idiots”.
I also had to trek to a collect+ drop shop for a few parcels which used to cost £2.20 with Royal Mail and now cost £5.60 . Also had to book a collection with my Hermes for the same reason (longer items not accepted with collect+). I had to use three different providers instead of one like I used to do.
Royal Mail lost about 15% of my business today because of their new rules. Seriously considering switching to My Hermes from now on except for large letters. Slightly worried about the fact it is a 3-day+ service though.
Royal Mail also updated the Despatch Manager Online website over the weekend.
Now it will not auto-print (On Demand) address labels with a comma in it. It used to handle commas ok.
They say it might take a week or so to fix and meantime I should remove commas from my On Demand feed files (Which are produced automatically by the despatch systems).
This is on top of the already annoying fact it will not print any labels with foreign characters in it.
Royal Mail IT are just a total shambles these days. If I worked there on the RMDMO helpdesk I would be looking for a new job out of sheer embarassment.
Was amused this morning. In the Post Office the Clerk had to check and double check everything because the category that the packet was in last week is not necessarily the same this week. After two or three goes at everything I think(I hope) he got it all right. Obviously with a bit of practice he will soon get the hang of it but does there really have to be a big turmoil every year? Surely once they have got it all right all that is needed is the occassional slight change in prices?
Should have printed off the postage last night on ebay as was £5.30 for a single golf club, went to PO this morning and shocked to have to pay £11.96 for the same parcel – no alternative….!!!
Business suicide by Royal Mail. eBay, Amazon sellers are going to be hit big time by this massive hike in prices. Most of my postage charges have doubled overnight. Bye, bye Royal Mail!
Just filled in the OBA. Nothing surprising until we sent a 2nd class recorded parcel that weighed nearly 2kg. A few pence short of £5!! Hermes for the same service would have been a lot less with no weight restriction and my next-day courier would have been less than £5.
My post today via Pick up and OBA
My postage excel spread sheet still has the “old” prices in, so i was able to do a x-referance with new & Old prices.
198 items, spread accross LL, Pkts, pkts SF and international mail:
Prices exclude VAT
Old Price £492.45
New Price £514.32
works out at 11pence per packet.
Lee
Just got back from the post office, I was aware that there was a price change taking place today, I wasn’t prepared for how much the prices have gone up, of the 21 parcels I took I have brought 19 back and booked delivery through Hermes. The postage cost of most of the items I send have more than doubled in price and the compensation level has gone down to £20. Unfortunately I can’t afford to be using royal mail any longer, which is a shame as it was very convenient for me. I’m really shocked that the prices on some services have increased in price so dramatically. Goodbye royal mail
Royal Mail have got rid of the 101-150g and up to 200g weight brackets for small packets overseas. So now a CD, which usually goes just over 100g will cost £3.50 for Europe instead of £2.93 and £4.70 for the USA instead of £3.90. These kind of hikes are just killing small businesses.
The most stupid thing with the increase is its cheaper to use RM Special Delivery Next Day [£6.22] than 2nd Class Signed For [£6.30], for medium parcels upto 100g
Some of my business is online. I have seen the postage for my most popular line go from £2.20 to £5.20 overnight. The 8cm ruling for Small parcels is nothing short of ridiculous. So much for the government’s support for enterprise.
Made sure every package was under 80mm thick. Wider and longer but flatter is now the order of the day. Any over 80mm deep will go Hermes and anything over 2kg will go Hermes. In another 2 weeks or so my Royal Mail 24/48 account will be open but Hermes will still get over 2kg business.
We have found that Royal Mail now have no exceptions for parcel tubes, they are completely ignored by them in the UK, so w now have to cut down the size to 45cm long to pay just 30p more per parcel (as packets no longer exist) or from £1.92 franked, its now £4.40 for second class 61cm long postal tubes! Shocked and dissapointed, will be phoning Hermes in the morning!
Second year in a row the Royal Mail have made a massive price increase.
This year is the worst in the 6 years ive been trading on the internet (volumetric i cant stop laughing) do the royal mail want to deliver anything.
All i do know this will be my last year trading online and the best postal company in the world will follow by going into private ownership and thousands of postal workers jobs lost . What a sad sad shame
The problem with the situation is that apart from the people who have commented, no one else cares!
Royal Mail are doing their level best to stop ecommerce trade and bring back the high street (where big companies can charge anything they like for goods) + help the poor ailing Chinese sellers who can send the same damn goods at cheaper prices (OK, doesn’t apply to everything)
Last year, I was angry and mad and ready to go on a march to protest against Royal Mail – but I couldn’t find anyone to join me (I didn’t check TameBay) 🙂
Question: has the forum on this website been stopped? I wanted some technical advice about using Javascript and API access – wanted some pointers on where I could go to get help
The 80mm rule really is a water take, I had one today which I know would be border line, 80mm at the edge but being a box it bowed out in the middle, nothing I could do tape wise to keep it within the 80mm despite the item fitting inside okay.
Of course it didn’t fall through the slot it only went through with a push so just like with large letter not allowed.
So my 1mm of my 180mm x 120mm x 81mm 300g parcel cost me an extra £2.40 taking the cost to £5.20 2nd Class.
Meanwhile I post a 180mm x 120 x 120mm 300g parcel to France for £4.95
RipOff Mail should be ashamed.
Someone needs to actually gather all this crazy price information and take it further with whoever it is
Hello,
I agree with you all about the price rises – We are a fulfilment house that has appeared as an article on Tamebay – we are offering great prices and still have access to the 250/500/750 weight brackets – may be told off by Chris for advertising here but if you use us for your fulfilment an examle is up to 250g tracked in the UK for £1.64 – if you would like anymore info please e mail me on [email protected]
Is this a conspiracy between RM and the Government to reduce online sales and encourage buyers back to bricks and mortar shops?
Daft idea?
No dafter that the price increases!
Fortunately most of my post yesterday was overseas but I had one small cube for the UK which I just knew was going to cause issues and it did but I won out in the end but I first had to run a mini staff training course !!
Next week I’ll be up and running on the OBA account if I ever get the bags and labels delivered.
It’s actually understandable that Royal Mail don’t want the hassle of dealing with packages that don’t fit through letterboxes… The extra work invloved, in terms of bringing back undeliverable items to sorting offices & also the limit on the amount of items the delivery staff can carry- adds an unnecessary economc burden to the operation….
The only puzzling thing is the 8cm rule – as most letterboxes tend to be 4-6 cm high.
There are already too many packages being left on doorsteps & communal areas in flats – leading to theft – and subsequent insurance claims……The Royal Mail could have solved this problem by copying the ‘packstation’ policy of the privatised German post office….(For those unfamiliar with packstations- google for info)…..
If Royal Mail introduced packstations in the U.K. , they could have insisted that any item over a certain size can ONLY be deliverd to packstations- and the cost of delivering would therefore drop dramatically- and prices for Online sellers could have been reset to levels seen a few years ago…..
For those thinking of using couriers- if you read the city press- you will be aware that most couriers are planning to increase prices- as their current pricing models are unsustainable…..
Myhermes is interesting as the delivery staff are basically self-employed – so allowing myhermes to avoid National insurance contributions and undercut their rivals…
They will become the subject of media scrutiny at some point, in the same way that Ebay & Amazon have been over tax avoidance……
Myhermes is a 3-5 day service – so you are looking at low value large items that go with free/lowest cost shipping on Ebay – likely to be sent by myhermes – and subsequent deteriorating dsrs for dispatch(delivery) times)…Interesting times…
I had a parcel that was about 10cm high and the bracket was 8cm. After taking it back, now under 8cm I was told it didn’t go through easily and the cheeky buggers tried to charge me the higher price. I put in an official complaint but I secretly hope this kills off royal mail. I checked online and the price for my item second class costs more than next day with several private firms.
This was the first time that I wrote off sending the parcel, as it’s contents was worth way less than the new postage fee!
Boycott Royal Mail!
I’ve been using myHermes parcelshop for over a week now and every parcel so far has got there in 2 days.
1 parcel that was going to somewhere in the same Hermes depot area as myself got there the next day!
So far Hermes is being just as good as RM and at least I can now track all the parcels.
I took pleasure taking my 2kg parcel to my local MyHermes shop, knowing that it only cost £3.25 +VAT = £3.90, plus there’s no long queue.
Royal Mails new rip-off price is £6.85 (franked), with no reclaimable VAT. As others have said, they’ve really screwed themselves with this new pricing structure.
Bedlam at my PO on Tuesday, staff ill trained, unaware of 16cm cube exception and tube exception, had to get them to get the manual out so I could show them. Lot’s of domestic customers walking back out with their parcels looking really confused with the changes. personally going with a combo of RM48 (packets and small stuff) and MyHermes for larger weighty stuff. RM will probably see a lot less of me because of this.
This may be the end of my small online business. I would have to completely remake my website. I sell items from single packs of guitar strings to things the size of a chair, and people buy an eclectic mix. There is no system in existence that can work out the volume or shape of my parcels for online postage calcs. Hermes and collect+ both state clearly that if the customer is not in they will leave nearby at a safe place. My off the shelf ecommerce website package has no way I can ask people for this information. I’ve just had to shut down all international sales. Would have to start again from scratch.
If Stuart is right (first comment) and parcels are to be shifted to Parcel Force over the next couple of years, with RM dealing only with letters and large letters . . . I don’t see any future for Royal Mail. The number of letters sent is declining year-after-year – it will be a loss-making business.
Parcel Force would be just another private delivery firm competing with Hermes, DHL etc.
Splitting everything up is madness. Suppliers like us will need to send items out using several companies if we want the best prices. There will be few Post Offices so we’ll need to pay for collection services (e.g. Royal Mail’s £900 service). For items too large to fit through a letter box we’ll need to send to some private locker arrangement (it’s sure to cost us and would be less convenient for the public).
Meanwhile in China it is one heavily subsidised system – great for encouraging exports.
I hope the politicians enjoy their thirty pieces of silver and their retirement directorships because everyone else (inc the UK as a whole) is going to be a loser.