Royal Mail

[qualitycardsandgifts]

On the news it has been reported that Royal Mail may drop letter delivery to three days a week.     This is going to be a disaster if allowed, both for sellers and eBay.   

I will definitely be phasing out my card stock 

[padanpcparts]

The UK government would never allow a 3 day delivery schedule for letters regardless of the regulators recommendation's. Even dropping it down to 5 days is looking very unlikely. 

[simplyessential_uk]

yes its being discussed but as its subsidised by the Govt it will have to go through them to agree and thryve confirmed that isnt going to happen pre election.  Theyve said also greeting card companies would also be hit hard.

Theyve said, aother option would be to increase the price of a stamp which would really put large letter close to a parcel or defunct.  Large letters were nota a thing years ago, it was a letter or a parcel and the latter wasnt handled by the postman so it may revert back to that so unless you are selling items that are an actual letter, im sure everyone will be in the same boat

[the_book_seekers]

If it were to be cut to 3 days there should be a price cut for the inferior service. 

[tribalgiftsuk]

Cutting to 3 days would make all 1st class post 1 - 3 day, making it pointless. No doubt prices are going up again April then....  How much was the MD and shareholders paid last year?

[pg_kicks]

Whilst I understand why sellers who use first class large letters might be upset I cant see how else Royal Mail go forward, delivering to every house 6 days a week is losing them money, especially on letters. We either have to move with the times or lose it completely as they will just allow it to get to a stage that nobody wants to use it and it goes back into public ownership but then we have to cover the hundreds of millions of losses every year.

I've yet to get a letter in the last 6 months that couldnt have been sent via an email or was just junk. Even if it went 3 days a week at most you'd be waiting 1 day extra for the letter, if something is that important it should be getting sent special delivery. Another option would be raising the price for large letters so they arent losing out on it, the issue is people are sending less and less letter so the money has to be saved or gained somewhere else.

[leadhills_scot]

I send out Christmas and birthday cards every year. Hospital appontments always come through the post the same with vaccinations appointments. Rarely get junk mail only when they are delivering something else.

As it is by the time any changes got through parliament I would have retired so it won't affect my business.

[the_book_seekers]

Another option would be raising the price for large letters so they arent losing out on it, the issue is people are sending less and less letter so the money has to be saved or gained somewhere else.

There's just been a massive hike to large letter any more and the cost will be up with small parcel making it rather redundant.

[tribalgiftsuk]

If Royal Mails large letters go over the price of Evri i will have to use Evri. Royal Mail are great for fragile items but they could well price themselves out of the market. I used to be loyal to RM but after 2 lots of price increases last year and there lack of scanning parcels and signed for's as delivered recently.  Im getting closer to Evri every day LOL 😂 

[pg_kicks]

Didnt even know it went up that much tbh, standard letter being 75p has to be losing money every single stamp even if it is 2nd class. Guess they could do away with large letter as like you say the jump isnt that much in price.

[gothicrosegallery]

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@pg_kicks wrote:

Didnt even know it went up that much tbh, standard letter being 75p has to be losing money every single stamp even if it is 2nd class. Guess they could do away with large letter as like you say the jump isnt that much in price.

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You clearly haven't been paying much attention then, as there was a huge hike in LL rates.

My tuppence worth...

• Do away with 1st class, and just have one class of letters and large letters that takes 3 to 5 days.
• Deliver letters and large letters Mon to Fri only.
• Parcels should be bumped up to a 7 days a week service.
• Scrap Signed For as it's pretty much redundant now Tracked 24/48 has been introduced.
• Keep Special Delivery for high priority letters and large letters only - with these deliveries 7 days a week.

[modelmorph]

It's always puzzled me that uk postboxes allow 30mm items to fit, yet Royal Mail set large

letter at 25mm. 2mm less than is required for a dvd or cd in a Jiffy bag envelope. They probably did this to get more money for parcels. However, if they changed it, they could compete with parcel companies to offer a mini postable parcel. 

This means we are using the letter service to post more

items such as; clothing, t shirts, dvds cds, jewellery, mechanical parts, make up and perfumes.  Reducing the overload on the parcel service and increasing the use of letterboxes and the letter service across the country. all sent using the new barcoded stamps and they can run these stamps through the confirmation of delivery system (that they nearly have working). 

[superchallenge]

I've sent DVDs and CDs in a jiffy bag envelope via large letter without a problem for years.

A DVD case is 14mm thick. Jiffy Green padded bags don't push it over the limit.

Failing that, Large Letter Postal Boxes from Kite Packaging, or Multi Media PiP Boxes from Defendapack work perfectly as designed for sending DVDs, CDs, or even PlayStation 1/Dreamcast sized boxes via Large Letter.

[modelmorph]

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@superchallenge wrote:

I've sent DVDs and CDs in a jiffy bag envelope via large letter without a problem for years.

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yes, I realised after I posted it that some of the items can fit. 
what I am trying to say is that Royal Mail are greedy for parcels, but have neglected a niche of expanding large letter by 20% in size and as they have a universal service it should result in many items that would be sent via others coming back to them and using letter service for delivery. 
if I am selling the next John Grisham hardback and I have an option of Royal Mail postable parcels at near large letter prices, I might consider jumping back from Evri or DPD. 
it might not just see a 20% increase it might be more by attracting people with a lower price than other parcel companies. 

[superchallenge]

I don't think it would cause any noticeable increase. If you're selling the next John Grisham hardback, you already do have the option of Royal Mail postable parcels at close to large letter prices.

RM Small Parcel is £2.99 standard (29p more than large letter) and can be posted in a postbox if it fits, in an outdoor parcel postbox, the small parcels postbox at a Post Office, or collected from your door for free. Includes a delivery scan, though if you want more, another 30p gets you Tracked 48.

On the other side, Evri's prices would be £2.94, or £3.97 if you want the item collected.

Granted, Evri's "standard" service does include tracking all the way up to them "losing" the parcel at the outgoing delivery depot, but the prices really aren't that much different and RM Small Parcels are indeed postable providing you find a postbox that will fit.