It comes around every year. But today Royal Mail changes come into force. Headline stuff will be the rise in price of first and second class basic services:
1st and 2nd Class mail
1st Class Letter will cost 62p (from 60p)
1st Class Large Letter (up to 100g) will cost 93p
2nd Class Letter will cost 53p (from 50p)
2nd Class Large Letter (up to 100g) will cost 73p
For the full digest and details of what will be changing today, do check out the Royal Mail website. There’s loads of info there and it will affect different customers differently so do take a moment to check it all out.
It does open up competition though, as quite a few couriers and carriers have been quick to point out.
James Greenbury, CEO of Parcel2Go.com says: “In recent times, the 1KG parcel has been Royal Mail’s bread and butter but the price increase highlights that these days may be at an end. We’ve long predicted this as a result of the privatisation and the price war currently happening is just another manifestation of this. As more of us shop online, consumers are going to become hungrier for the value and flexibility parcel delivery comparison websites such as Parcel2Go.com offer and will increasingly seek out the cheapest option available.”
And it isn’t just them. MyHermes have also introduced a £2.78 inc vat under 1kg tariff. Check out their website for details. And blimey, there are so many carriers out there.
Greater choice and competition is always welcome. But the hassle and research required to get the best deal is not. Basically, the best advice to shop around to find the best deals.
If you find a cracking good deal, do tell us all. 🙂 How will these Royal Mail changes affect you?
26 Responses
Isn’t this a non-brainer?
Hermes charge £2.98 for up to 1kg and even heavier is still less than RM so now Royal Mail get all Large Letter up to 750gm and Hermes get everything else.
Really very simple.
Invoices – sent by E-mail
Payments – received by BACS
Small parcels – sent via private courier
Apart from the occasional customer who insists on written statements we barely use Royal Mail these days.
For my higher value items under1kg or 2kg its RM orange label signed for v Hermes tracked. Both have 100% record for me in last 12 months. So who am I leaning towards right now?
Royal Mail do need to make signed for = tracked. The systems are already in place for Special Delivery and the PPI tracked services so why not utilise this same process for 24/48 orange label signed for? After all orange label packages are sorted into separate mail bags so its not a sorting issue.
For some sellers it will be the changes in the overseas rates which will have the most detrimental effect, with the introduction of Pricing In Proportion, and the lack of any “large letter” rate, meaning a big increase in the cost of shipping small items.
were great believers in the pay peanuts and you get monkeys adage ,
were very happy to pay a reasonable fee for a reliable service
Airmail small packet costs for anything over £250 appears to have gone through the roof.
It seems Royal Mail will not offer insurance on anything over £250 via the small packets method, this has to be one of the worst business decisions Royal Mail has made in recent times.
How do you now send a small item worth £450 for example with relevant insurance ??
I appreciate you can use Parcelforce however this is very costly and not really suitable.
I’m stumped by this change and I think it will hurt a lot of businesses and Royal Mail.
ill be really hurt by the size limits on airmail, 5mm thick etc, just like with the uk letter size. i may have to add postage on to all airmail now, whereas i offered free postage worldwide. with most items costing 1.28 in EU or 1.88 worldwide up until yesterday. now its 3.odd if its over 5mm thick. or i may split the difference with the buyer, ill pay the first 1.28 / 1.88 and they pay the diff.
also i don’t really send in volume to qualify for other RM products – an average of 100-200 items / month, which is small fry in the RM world i would think, so all in all, worldwide postings are gonna be hurt hard i think for me.
Once again the distinction between small packets and letters is not clearly defined. I sell CDs and mail them in thin cardboard mailers 125mm square for a total thickness of no more than 3.5mm. Is this a letter or a parcel? What constitutes a parcel, and what constitutes a letter? Not as if they open things to see what’s inside, or at least not often, and what’s to stop me putting a letter in a CD envelope and sending that as a letter; what’s the difference? Anyone know, please?
Tracked is very good value for us. The international services are unreliable and expensive, though – and they have all gone up well above inflation, again. The technical transition to the new international services in Dispatch Manager has been a farce.
LOADS of my clients can’t ship anything out. Systems crashed, not sent the new labels…massive changes that they have not been told about.
At a standstill with parcels piling up!!
Hi,
Just wondered if anyone could assist me.
Due to the compensation changes for airmail small packets, now a max of £250 !!
How would you send a small parcel, under 90cms in total (i.e 30cm by 30cm by 30m) weighing 1 to 2 kg’s with a value of £500 and insured to this value ???
Any ideas ??
Thanks
Here’s a little anomaly that I’ve been talking to the Royal Mail about today…
10g letters are 97p with stamps for world zones 1/2 but if you have a franking machine it’s £1.17 for exactly the same, although franked mail to anywhere in Europe is 85p…
I guess they thought nobody used that rate, but they do…
.
International….
If is bulky & heavy, check out:
https://www.ipostparcels.com/?utm_source=ebay&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=static_728x90_bps_me
The price doesn’t really matter today as DMO is broken. Nothing can be sent first or second class.
I spoke to them and they said there was not a solution.
I said I could send everything special delivery but it would cost £600 and asked if they would pay it.
They said no and I should just apologise to my customers.
Thanks Royal Mail.