Royal Mail have stopped free collections from home.

[vintagechinashop]

I haven’t been doing my postage today for items sold over the weekend and notice that Royal Mail have very sneakily introduced a charge of 30p per parcel for a home collection. Has anyone else noticed this. I must have had my head under a rock for a while because I’m sure I never saw this publicised 

oh well my buyers will have to take some of this now because my nearest drop off is 10 mile away so the cost of fuel and postage will probably still make the 30p viable. Especially with the rate of sales at the moment 

[magpiecorner1]

It used to be 72p, but was dropped as a promotion. 

Though I do wonder if it's been reintroduced after quite a few years as part of the dealings between eBay and Royal Mail when negotiating pricing, especially for simple delivery.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Are you quite sure about the drop off locations?

Unless you are literally out in the wilds, there has got to be somewhere closer than 10 miles away.

Post office, Sorting office, parcel postboxes and locker?

https://www.royalmail.com/services-near-you#/

[vintagechinashop]

I use Royal Mail for my postage as I have less problems. Breakages are rare and my experience with couriers such as Evri has not been the same. 
my local post office is only open 4 half days a week ( at best as it’s frequently closed at short notice) and as I work I’m unable to get there during the opening hours. My sorting office is 10 miles away and again the hours don’t fit in with my working hours so the collections fits in perfectly as my local postie picks up from my garage  I could use a post office near to my office but that would mean driving and parking problems during my already short lunch hour. 
im going to pay the 30p as it’s a minor charge but obviously a bit more than the free service and it just caught me by surprise and of course that’s better than the 72p it used to be 

[therenewalworkshopltd]

There are the new boxes that you might have one nearby.

But if your doing sufficient parcels, you might want to look at a business account and collections.

They might just surprise you with prices and you only need to be sending 20 per week to qualify.

Which in turn gives you free collection, free labels and a discounted thermal printer.  🙂

[crg_music]

Might be worth just booking though Ebay then, I just booked some collections for tomorrow and was no fee + prices were the same. Only difference is you will need to print the labels.

[wyntersemporium]

I have 20 tro 25 to send, but only two are going via Royal Mail which are 2 large parcels, the rest I’m taking to the post office as some are Evri from another site. 
The Evri store I go to has only one bag and is always full by 9am, so will take the lot to post office.

Shame really loved seeing Julie my postie at the door.

[edwardian-dreams]

In the big scheme of things Royal Mail might have upped its prices but didn’t eg rm trackedn48 ok 6p 

they upped them far more on other things in latest price rises

so it’s six and half a dozen really I think all in all

in this world for some reason certain companies always rise prices 

dirty lot lol

[1902elder]

Not everyone lives in towns and cities, so no reason to doubt the posters statement.  At one time, I used to live in a rural location, and the post office was about 12 miles away and there was no other option. Many live in even more remote locations.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

That may be true, but a simple look at a listing shows the location of any business seller!

And even a private sellers general location is viewable.

Aside from which, it wasn't about doubting a statement, but trying to be constructive.

[crg_music]

I notice its still free through a click and drop account also. Not sure if thats just a delay before they add it and not yet been updated.

I just spoke to the Postman and he said they've got a new boss who's a check man. He thinks they want to reduce staff and vastly increase lockers then charge for anything that needs manual work. I said its a bit of a joke, a couple of weeks after a price increase, he totally agreed, especially with Inpost offering drop off to house up to 15kg from £2.69.  

Despite what websites might think the vast majority of buyers/items care more about the cost than getting it next day. 

I'm hoping that they might just be adding charges for 1 off consumer orders so businesses ie anyone here doesnt need to be affected, might just need to book it differently.

Honestly I'll move all my shipping to ebay if they are the only ones with free collections. The price is the same as click and drop.

Most posties will take your other parcels anyway so I suspect just paying the 30p once will be enough and they will take the rest.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Most posties will take your other parcels anyway so I suspect just paying the 30p once will be enough and they will take the rest.

Most will yes as a one off, but if your doing it every day of the week, or even every other day, I have a suspicion that it won't continue for that long.

As to the new guy, he hasn't even sat at the desk yet as it's only just gone through.  So who knows what will change.  Hopefully he will bring RM into the current century as they are still working as if it was 1950 for the most part!

[crg_music]

I guess it didnt matter when there was no fee involved, it was more just orders I hadn't booked.

Will be curious to see what happens, honestly I think they'd be mad to bring in this fee for all collections, pretty sure it will cost in sales almost immediately.

The postman is there after all, charge for the labels fine but the postman is there anyway so may as well be collecting parcels.

[therenewalworkshopltd]

I get what you mean, but if you look at it from their side and if they are charging, then by the postie taking the parcels for free, it is costing them money.

But at this point, I think with the new leadership coming in next month, I would wait and see what happens.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the whole service will be in for change, with a strong emphasis on making parcel delivery cheaper and more profitable.  Along with doing everything they can to reduce the cost of letter post.

[technthread]

This was my argument, the postie is walking past anyway so what’s the issue?

I have been put straight on this by someone who knows the inner workings. Without going into too much detail, some rounds have to be skipped on alternate days as they are losing money on them. No doubt it varies from area to area... 1 person booking a single home collection on a day where there would be no deliveries would cost RM a lot more than 30p. 

[essysemporium]

If you buy your postage via Ebay then collection is still free.

Only issue I have with that is that next day collection cut-off time is about 8.30pm so any orders after that I would need to pay the 30p fee and book them in via Royal Mail website.

[crg_music]

Ive just tried a couple of experiments and the tracked 48 when booked on the app is still showing as free while the 2nd class is charging the 30p

[myretrostore-uk]

Was using RM click and drop and it was free for collections however they have just posted a note to say they  are going to start charging 30p as well. 

Unbelievable.  30p per item! If they are collecting 1 or 20 it shouldn't make any difference. 

Only reason I used their collection service is so I have proof of collection so I can claim when the large letters go missing!

Another money grabbing service!

Will now have to increase all my prices by 30p

[therenewalworkshopltd]

Really, you might want to think about that one?

You have 30 parcels that need collecting.  The postie has to get in a van, fill it with petrol, take the time to drive to you and physically collect the parcels and then drive back.  Oh and they have to actually pay the postie a wage and insure the van etc.

And no, it may not be only one collection, but if it is, do you not see that it's going to cost them considerably more than the £9 that you have paid for your "30" parcels?

As a business, from what I understand you shouldn't have been using it anyway, as it's for personal customers.

Aside from that, though they have snuck the price increase back in, it was only a promotion in the first place.

However, if you are sending more than 20 parcels a week, you should be using a business account anyway and you will get your free collections along with free labels etc.

If all you want is proof of collection, use a tracked service or go to the post office/drop off point or even a parcel post box where you can get electronic proof of postage!  And you pay the petrol to do it!

[myretrostore-uk]

They are coming around in the van anyway to deliver post.  My postie does who does the door to door deliveries always does my collections so it's not like they are specially driving here. 

I've tried applying for a business account but you need to send more than 20 small parcels a week. I send mostly large letter so they said I need to send about  80 constantly a week in order to get a business account. 

Easy saying use a tracked service. Not all of us send high value items. Paying the extra now for tracking does not make financial sense on some items.