Opinions on Royal Mail's Tracked 48 versus Tracked 48 with Signature

[maturin.surprise]

Having used Royal Mail's 2nd Class Signed For service (via paying at a Post Office) for many years, I'm having no choice but to switch to online Tracked 48 in April due to the reduction in Signed For compensation from £50 to £20 (plus with just how expensive it's now getting).

It's a shame, since I always found the reliability tremendous but I sell many items with a purchase value of over £40 and I need to be covered.

What are people's opinions on the reliablity of Tracked 48 versus Tracked 48 with signature? With the value of my items, is it still wiser to use the Signature service instead of safeplace delivery? Or have you found in your experience that there is no real difference when it comes to lost parcels?

[chemal56]

I use the tracked with signature if I want more security as it's better proof of delivery, although if someone claims with the tracked only and they put it in the "blue bin" then I've sussessfully claimed a refund on this before as sometimes people say they didn't receive it.

Sometimes it depends on how much cost difference the tracked with signature is.

[bobbycally]

I use standard Tracked48 and haven't had any issues. In fact I'd go so far as to say it's been excellent for me.

Wouldn't touch Non-tracked standard services or the Signed For though. Not worth the price given the small difference plus the fact that Tracked gets priority above them (despite RM management / PR protestations that they don't!)

[btr.style]

Tracked 24/48 has always been fine. It updates as it should and delivery is both with a photograph and GPS location. 

[sugarsa-21]

From April yo7 can do tracked 24 & 48 at the post office , either with signature or without and is cheaper than signed for , and compensation is up to £150 ... 

[my_house_clearance_project]

Hi all, I've been doing a bit of house clearance last couple of years and only used 2nd class signed for everything. I am definitely a novice when it comes to delivery cost. Today, I paid £5.90 for a medium package today since I was 1cm over the size limit which I didn't realise when packing. I asked PO lady if sending it tracked would be cheaper but was told that is not an option. Yet, I looked up on Google and sounds like tracked is much cheaper but how do I use this option??? Feels like I am misled by my local PO. Cos, recently I was sending a package worth £80 and PO lady made me pay for special delivery and when I had queried again she said tracked would not cover me. I am really confused. Any help would be appreciated. 

[61stephenuk]

Signed for only has £20 compensation now and the tracked service 24 &48 (£150 cover) are not  yet available at many Post Offices.

My local PO expects the services to be available mid June,in the meantime you can purchase the tracked service from Royal Mail direct and they will bring a label and collect if you don't have a printer.

[stp4411-7wqbf8]

I'm currently fighting with them at present. I've not had any issues until now. They put my customers parcel in the bin on bin day! Customer couldn't get home in time and the bin was collected, parcel completely lost. Total value was about £120, which is within the £150 market value compsensation limit. They have rejected my claim as they say I haven't provided enough evidence (I have attached the actual photo they themselves sent my customer of the parcel in the bin, along with her receipt and my proof of purchase/posting method). They also said IF they reconsider I have to provide purchase receipts for the items I obtained showing the 'cost price'. That they wouldn't compensate for the actual market price of items. So you don't actually get up to £150 market value compensation. Even if they do mess it up and put the parcel in the bin! 
I don't have a business account with them as I don't qualify, this is just the standard tracked 48.

[muttleysmedal1]

Thanks for that useful information. I did wonder how we stood with compensation claims. Not a surprise they will try and wriggle out of paying.

I'm not a business either, just having a mass clear out at home and been using Tracked 48 for 6 weeks ish now. I've yet to experience them deliver within the 48 hours. I'm sure many will pipe in and advise that their website says it can take 3 or 4 days or that the name "Tracked 48" doesn't mean 48 hours, but I'm afraid Royal Mail are more than aware of their marketing strategy and how the name would be interpreted and they are deliberately misleading customers. I personally feel it's just another service they've dreamt up, to make more money, that they knew would never meet expectations implied.

Oh a tip for you! Forget dropping off your post at the Post Office (their plan is to close them all anyway and have drop off points). Whenever we drop off at a Post Office, it often sits there for two days, even when given over the counter to get the Certificate of Posting signed, before their stipulated cut off point. Take it directly to your sorting office. Not once has anything ever just sat at the sorting office when I've dropped off there. They told me as soon as the bag gets full, it moves into the system.

[txt.ltd]

---

@maturin.surprise wrote:

It's a shame, since I always found the reliability tremendous but I sell many items with a purchase value of over £40 and I need to be covered.

---

Do you?

Compare Royal Mail 2nd Class vs 2nd Class Signed For on a 2kg parcel: £3.19 vs £4.59 (difference of £1.40) 

If 5% of packages went missing and all your parcels had goods costing £50, that means:

If you sent 100 parcels, the total goods cost would be £5000, and the total postage and packaging cost would be say £500 (£5 x 100)

So £5500 potential loss.
5% of that is £275

So you lost £275 and you paid out £140 in 'insurance' (£1.40 x 100)

Good deal, right?

Well, the actual real-world loss/fraud rate (at least via eBay) is more like 0.5%. So it works out like this:

You lost £27.50
You paid out £140 to cover the loss, leaving you overpaying £112.50 or £1.125 per parcel.

£140 is approx 2.5% of £5500. So if the loss/fraud rate goes above that, pay for the compensation cover, otherwise don't.

[stp4411-7wqbf8]

Sorry can I just check what you mean by pay for compensation cover?
Is there a separate insurance company I can look into for this?

As I’ve been informed, even if I paid for extra cover I would still only be covered for what the ‘cots price’ would be. Therefore making paying for the extra cover with them a pointless expense.

Thanks

Sent from my iPhone

[stp4411-7wqbf8]

Please ignore my previous reply, I have reread what you've put and understand it bwtter now. Sorry was too early in the morning for me 🤣.