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new post prices are out
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Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice

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Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 13 5:21 pm Post subject:
Good job you can print your own, then.

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8953
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 13 10:41 pm Post subject:
I was worried enough with the last price rise....now I turn my back for 6 months and they are going up again

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 13 11:30 pm Post subject:

gz wrote:

I was worried enough with the last price rise....now I turn my back for 6 months and they are going up again

Not necessarily - the formats have also changed as well as the prices so that you could well be paying less (a first class parcel of 1kg currently costs �4.30, under the new structure it will either cost �3 or �5.65, that's either a �1.65 rise or a �1.30 fall in price).

A 19kg parcel sent first class currently costs �38.30, the new price is �32.40, or a �5.90 saving.

In 2012 you used to get a discount of 2p off a standard letter for franking, making it 44p, it still costs 44p, giving you a saving of 16p on a every letter. The prices of stamps haven't gone up this time at all.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 13 12:22 am Post subject:

Midland Spinner wrote:

Rob R wrote:

or at the bottom of every page on www.royalmail.com .

In very very small print.

They aren't making it clear & open.

Here's a screenshot of the main page;

Midland Spinner

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2931
Location: Under a green roof

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 13 10:23 am Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

Midland Spinner wrote:

Rob R wrote:

or at the bottom of every page on www.royalmail.com .

In very very small print.

They aren't making it clear & open.

Here's a screenshot of the main page;

Yes, but to get to the parcel prices/sizes you still have to click the link to get to a page which gives the choice of personal (which I'm not, exactly), smart stamp, or business-with-an account (which I'm not). That takes you to the basic info, then to get the detailed parcel prices you have to click another link which takes you to the pdf, in which you have to scroll down to the second page to find the inland sizes, which you then have to compare to the prices to find out how much you will have to spend.

That's 3 pages on from the front page- it might as well be in the basement, behind a locked door, in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet marked "beware of the leopard".

This conversation is clearly going round in circles, you obviously think that the Royal Mail are justified in their actions and are giving you good service - I .... don't. I suspect it's a lot down to the fact that you sell & send out a lot of heavy parcels, I send fewer light parcels, because a lot of my work involves trapping volume inside things (i.e. making cases, boxes, baskets & other bulky but light items).

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 13 12:30 pm Post subject:

Midland Spinner wrote:

This conversation is clearly going round in circles, you obviously think that the Royal Mail are justified in their actions and are giving you good service - I .... don't. I suspect it's a lot down to the fact that you sell & send out a lot of heavy parcels, I send fewer light parcels, because a lot of my work involves trapping volume inside things (i.e. making cases, boxes, baskets & other bulky but light items).

No, not at all, the postal prices thread is posted in Business Questions, Ideas & Advice, I'm trying to offer the latter two. You said it was hard to find in the small print (the link to 2013 Postal Prices) yet when I visited the site it was there in a very prominent position, I'm not quite sure what more you are expecting from them in that respect. They can't take you on a direct link to the information you want to know because that would mean everyone else would find it more difficult, either that or you'd have a load of information to sift through that you didn't want to know and it'd be even harder to find.

I do send some heavy parcels, but if I were advising you on that basis I would say you should forget about Royal Mail and sign up with a decent courier. I also use Royal Mail for anything from 50g up to about 1kg, after which the courier becomes more competitive when I factor in the time & cost of going to the Post Office. I used to send many smaller parcels via Royal Mail, which is why I suggest franking - the savings back when I did it were starting at 2p per letter, and it was only just about worth it for the few parcels I had, the biggest advantage for me was that I didn't have to spend time in the Post Office & I didn't have to hold up other people in the Post Office while they processed my parcels - now they are up to 16p, so it is definitely more financially worth it now. I also suggested having a set price & offering a quote to reduce your postal prices if possible, which is exactly what I do. The Post Office still gets paid for handling franked mail so you are not doing them out of an income either.

Royal Mail have changed their pricing structure in order to a) influence the way customers use the service and b) making themselves more efficient by standardising the mail they are handling. They haven't done it to annoy people. A lot of people have said they have put their prices up, but if you compare the prices they have put some parcels up, and brought some down, so the doom-mongering is not justified IMO. And even if it were justified, what is the point of complaining about it on a forum if the convention is to just say 'it's awful what they are doing to us'? They're not going to come on here and change their systems and pricing structure on the back of it. We've got to find the best way around it.

I have also recently invested in some boxes for 'lumpy' items that standardise the size and shape of my skins & hides (which are lightweight & fairly bulky) and ensure that I know the dimensions and they aren't open to inperpretation by the Post Office staff. They also make packing quicker and easier than wrapping in plastic.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 13 11:54 am Post subject:

for small parcels you can order a template
https://www.royalmail.com/parcel-template-order-form

to check what size = what cost.

in addition, if it helps anyone as it has helped me, there is this in teeny teeny writing, found underneath the definitions of a small, medium and large parcel in the uk bit:

Quote:

Exceptions apply. The following items are also priced as Small Parcels. Parcels that measure up to: Length: 16cm, Width: 16cm, Depth: 16cm.
Also roll or cylinder shaped parcels that measure up to Length: 45cm, Diameter: 8cm.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 13 5:04 pm Post subject:
beware the card template is running about 5mm too wide on all slots, but still very useful as a quick check whether your parcel will fit through

Midland Spinner

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2931
Location: Under a green roof

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 13 3:55 pm Post subject:
I've just received my card template - the neighbour brought it round because the postie delivered it to next door.

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Jul 16, 13 11:45 am Post subject:

Ooh, I get to join in in this thread now too

I've added in weights and dimensions to the first few merionwen products, and I'm setting up shipping methods to fit with RM's scheme of sizes and weights.

What I'm unclear on as yet is how our cart software calculates the overall volume of a multi-product order. Some fiddling will be required.

My favourite bit of advice from this thread so far is:-

Rob R wrote:

Our courier says as long as you don't pack liquids in a bucket, that's fine.

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Tue Jul 16, 13 12:12 pm Post subject:
Bother, it doesn't seem to work in a sensible manner. The volume of a kilner jar is less than the overall volume of a small parcel, but exceeds the size restrictions... and it'll only let me add weight/volumes. Time for a selection of shipping methods with artificial weight restrictions, to trick the system into selecting the right one. A.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 13 3:38 pm Post subject:

apparently RM are changing their pricing structure from the end of the month/ beginning Nov

they are changing the small parcel dimensions for domestic mail so that parcels up to 350 x 250 x 160mm, which are currently classified as Medium Parcels, would also now be classed as a Small Parcel. This would cover postings up to the size of a large shoebox.

Difference in price for 1kg is a reduction from �5.65 to �3.00

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 13 5:32 pm Post subject:
Are they still called RM then?

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 13 5:44 pm Post subject:
Royal Mail plc

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9887
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Oct 29, 13 10:06 am Post subject:
and here is a link detailing the new 2 kinds of small parcel info

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