Postal prices

[annew]

I feel like I've been mugged. I went to post 2 parcels of snowdrops off today.
Last week my parcel would have cost £3-65, signed for.
My parcel was 35cm x 11cm x 11cm (volume 4.2L) and weighed 300g, so was newly classed as a medium parcel and cost £6-75, signed for.
For the same price my parcel could have been 61cm x 46cm x 46cm (volume 129L) and could have weighed 20kg.
If my parcel was 45cm x 35cm x8cm (volume 12.6L) and weighed 1kg, it would have cost me £4.10, as it would have been a small parcel….

Dear customers, you have been warned.

[Gail]

Know how you feel - I've just posted two snowdrops this afternoon; UK first class cost me £5.65 to send (I was expecting around £2.70) but interestingly to send one to Germany cost just £3.50...

Perhaps you'll have to say continental customers only, unless they are prepared for a large bill!

[annew]

I will have to look at couriers, but then my village post office will lose custom and will probably end up closing. I could get on my bike,
but that might take just a little longer 

[fermi de Sousa]

I'm not sure if it's particularly the Royal Mail that has taken this attitude to customers (i.e. fleece'em), but for example I ordered a book from a British bookshop which had the postal costs listed on the website as GBP12. but before they would send it they informed me that the extra post because it was a heavy book (> 1 kg) would be another GBP20!
I cancelled and re-ordered from a shop in the USA and they stuck to the postal charge they listed on the web! Came to virtually the same as the original price quoted by the British shop.
cheers
fermi

[arillady]

Yes I ordered a $3 book in US and postage was around $14. You have to know the maximum weight for price and sometimes it is cheaper to do two parcels - trouble is that unless you are forewarned you have already packaged it.

[Alan_b]

Details for the UK are here: http://www.royalmail.com/parcels-made-easy

You need to keep the smallest dimension at 8cm or less to qualify as a 'small parcel'.

[annew]

I may have to jump up and down on the parcels with trilliums in then. 

[Susan Band]

Anybody wanting cheap 10X10X20 boxes
Susan

[annew]

We'll have to get somebody to cut them down to size, or we can do it in all this spare time we have.

[Maggi Young]

Details for the UK are here: http://www.royalmail.com/parcels-made-easy

You need to keep the smallest dimension at 8cm or less to qualify as a 'small parcel'.

Except for the exceptions!

Exceptions apply

The following items are also priced as Small Parcels:

    Parcels that measure up to and including:
    Length: 16cm and Width: 16cm and Depth: 16cm
     
    Roll or cylinder shaped parcels that measure up to and including:
    Length: 45cm and Diameter: 8cm


Roll or cylinder shaped parcels larger than these sizes can be posted as Medium Parcels up to and including 90cm in length and up to and including 104cm (length plus twice the diameter)

Is it any wonder that P.O. Staff are confused? And it doesn't help when most offices seem not to have any leaflets to hand out to frustrated customers.

[Anthony Darby]

Guess all the relatives will be getting Rubik's cubes for Christmas?

[Martin Baxendale]

Their websites are terrible too - trying to find actual prices for comparisons (rather than using a calculator) is very difficult. Looks to me like using Royal Mail medium parcel service for sending some of my books might be much cheaper than Parcelforce 48 hour but doing comparisons is annoyingly awkward. I can't see anywhere a simple table of costs for small and medium Royal Mail parcels!   

[Alan_b]

Martin, have a look at http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RoyalMail_OurPrices_April2013b.pdf

[Martin Baxendale]

Thanks Alan. Most of the pages you get directed to make little or no mention of prices, often just a "from...." or an online calculator for your parcel where you put in the weight, no links that I could find to take your to a comprehensive comparison of prices for different weights and different services.

[ArnoldT]

I've had a similar awakening.  Went to the PO to send a book to Australia via surface mail.  Found out there is no longer surface mail for a packages over 4 pounds.  Cost to send a 4 pound 12 ounce package to Australia is now $56.00