Royal Mail 2nd Class Parcels - are they being hit by the new delivery schedule

[markmunty1973]

after having a break over august and putting all my listings on 10 day dispatch I am looking to remap things up towards christmas

I have always sent items 2nd class small parcel however I am considering chages to tracked 48 parcels dues to the changes re delivery

I have looked on other discussions and seen that people are having their parcels delivery times lengthened as well as letters

whats the general consensus  re delivery now ?

[sml192]

Neither Standard Tariff 2nd Class Parcels or Tracked 48 are part of the changes to the delivery schedule so shouldn't be affected.  Officially Standard Tariff parcels have to be delivered every day Monday to Friday whereas Tracked 48 also includes Saturday.

As the price difference between Standard Tariff and Tracked is only 10p it is probably worth upgrading anyway. 

[style_wise]

Yes, when you post 2nd Class parcels you get a free Reference Number that works as Tracking. But Postie is not always great about scanning these into the system at the point of delivery. Like @sml192 says Tracked 48 is only 15p more and better service.

[technthread]

Pretty much the same as before, eBay EDD’s are a challenge when you use 2nd class. Tracked 48 helps a bit but you’re still always up against it to avoid defects.

Looking at your lowest price records I’d actually move courier on those. This is just me but I’d send those with Evri, use mailers as normal and wrap in extra cardboard to keep them better protected than an RM parcel but under 1kg. Tracked 48 or 2nd class on those takes too much of your profit  away. I’d use RM Tracked 48 as the courier for records over £20 but avoid 2nd class for the reason others have given, the price difference between those is negligible.

[jlovie]

I'm sending most of my vinyl T48 now, as others say, it's only 10p more than 2nd.

My T48s aren't always arriving on time, but the big advantage is that T48 tracking shows where the parcel is, whereas 2nd just shows item sent and no clue as to where it might be stuck - not so reassuring for the buyer.

RM is much easier for me as I use the parcel postboxes, which take LP size items.

I haven't tried Evri for vinyl, I'd be interested in others' experiences.

I've only had RM break one LPs in thousands sent.

[technthread]

I’ve sent many on V with Evri, InPost and Yodel with no breakages. They are packaged OTT and then waterproofed so it takes slightly longer to do but not much extra in packaging costs. It has given me

more reassurance to use couriers other than RM, I doubt I would have tried it but the V buyers rarely choose RM. 

I sold a record on here for £10 with free postage last night leaving me with £8.52 before postage. Maybe I’m penny pinching a bit but I’ve paid £2.94 for Evri on Packlink rather than pay £3.45 to RM, I’m paying more to eBay and courier on that sale than I’ll earn myself so I may as well minimise the costs where I can. 

[technthread]

Just to add for balance - I’ve no doubt if I sent thousands I’d have fewer breakages with RM. Their handling is clearly much better and a lower risk for the sender. I also think vinyl records are on Evri’s exclusion list so they are effectively uninsured. The costs saved though over time should more than cover occasions where one needs writing off, that’s how I look it anyway. 

[style_wise]

EVRI exclusions don't matter if you are using them via Simple Delivery - it defaults to eBay's T&Cs as they organize the delivery.

Also regarding RM 2nd, my local Post Office manager said that when there is a backlog of parcels (e.g. December) that RM set 2nd Class aside and clear Special, Tracked and 1st Class as a priority. So RM 2nd delivery times can be quite a bit longer at certain times of year.

[technthread]

That’s true. SD has a lot of protections for private sellers, they also don’t need to worry about late delivery defects either.

I was speaking to a buyer yesterday who had been waiting for an RM 2nd class large letter order. It took about 9 days to arrive, thankfully they were sound about it and left me positive feedback.

I’m glad to be taking a break here, most of my listings are moved now and I’m cancelling the shop subscription before it renews tomorrow. I can’t carry on with these eBay EDD’s it’s not worth the hassle of selling using 2nd class post here atm.