Almost a year ago when Royal Mail began Sunday deliveries for Moonpig, we predicted that as they scaled operations and took on more customers Sunday deliveries would filter down to small business mailings. Now, from the 29th of May that prediction has come true.
The reason this is really interesting is that every time Royal Mail take on a new customer for Sunday deliveries the more they scale and the quicker it will become mainstream and available to independent retailers.
ChannelX – July 2021
Royal Mail have begun emailing account customers with the news which currently is restricted to Tracked 24 items. This is really interesting as it means small online sellers will soon be able to start offering Sunday deliveries so long as the customer is willing to pay for a Tracked 24 delivery option. Keep an eye on marketplaces as they may start to adjust delivery estimations to take account of the new service offering and knock a day off the ETA for parcels that formerly would be expected to arrive on Mondays, but may now be delivered a day earlier on Sunday.
As a Royal Mail Tracked 24® customer, from 29 May we will begin to deliver items on a Sunday.
Royal Mail via email
There are some exceptions. For instance my mum may not be getting Sunday Tracked 24 deliveries as she lives on the Isle of Wight. There is a total Sunday Delivery exemption for postcodes in the AB, BT, GY, HS, IM, IV, JE, KW, ZE ranges and a partial exemption for postcode in the following areas: DD9, 10, 11, DG5-9, FK17-21, KA27-30, KY10, 14-16, PA20-38, 41-49, 60-78, 80, PH5-9, 11-13, 15-26, 30-50, PO30-41, TD5, 15, TR21-25.
These Sunday delivery postcode exemptions are mainly Islands (e.g. Isle of Wight, Scilly Isles) and Scottish Highlands and Islands.
Delivery routes will likely be much more spread out than the standard 6-day a week delivery rounds and require significantly fewer staff as it’s only a small number of items that will be delivered on Sundays currently.
There’s also trouble on the horizon over Sunday deliveries with the CWU threatening strike action. The CWU are fairly happy that Royal Mail are negotiating a pay rise but they are fuming that the pay rise is tied into a commitment to work on Sundays – traditionally the only day off for hardworking Posties.
