Royal Mail new prices released

A question about : Royal Mail new prices released

Surprisingly, no change in the rate for regular or large letter stamps.

If you use Royal mail for parcels, probably time to start looking for a courier. Luckily I have a myHermes drop off point nearby!

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/defau..._April2013.pdf

Best answers:

• I see the threatened Ј20 limit for compensation is coming into effect.
• Max depth for small parcels is going to be 8cm?? I thought it wasn't going to be too bad for me as most of mine go Ј2.20 so increasing to Ј2.60 but only if I can get them under 8cm thin?? How complicated does it look!
• arghhh, I may be forced to use couriers as well then as none of my small boxes will fit in the 'small' category, depth 8cms is the killer
  OK, so we need a new thread for newbies guide to couriers for normal sized items over 8cms in depth. I'll start a thread as I think it is a different question to the normal courier thread as I for one will be looking for one I can drop things off at.
  Worth noting as well that recorded is not now a seperate charge (maybe the thread I posted the other day where someone had been miselad by the 95p for recorded statement) and there is a combined charge for recorded which is between Ј1 - Ј120 more than standard mail depending on size.
• Maybe it's a typo?? 8cm is ridiculously thin! So basically if you sell anything over 8cm thick the cheapest option is Ј5.20! That's absurd.
  I'm mainly selling my kids clothes and if I get bigger bags and squeeze the air out most will probaby go at the small parcel size but things like an unopened pack of tights just won't be worth the postage charge!
• It always seems unfortunate to me that anything that is a tad thicker than 25mm has to go the cheapest 2nd class parcel which used to be Ј2.20, now Ј2.60.
  And wow they have made it complicated...
  The item I send daily is 22cm x 15cm x 4.5cm weighing 120 grams.
  It looks like this is
  2nd class Ј2.60 with 2nd recorded Ј3.70
  1st class Ј3.00 with 1st recorded Ј4.10
  I think they have missed out a bit of the shading that confirms which columns do with 1st/2nd!
  edit: the shading is there just really faint, much easier to read if you print it out!
  Gary.
• God bless the counter staff, they're going to have to be nifty with a tape measure.
  Cheaper and simpler to send abroad in many cases, crazy!
• A lot of post office staff get confused already how they are going to get their heads round this I don't know! I couldn't read the small print about 16cm small boxes, thats a glimmer of hope at least though don't think I have many things that size usually. International prices seem hit and miss, less weight brackets so for something 500g it's actually cheaper than now but for something 255g it's a lot more expensive!
• Neat, mummified, rugby ball shaped packages that are easy for the postman and protect the contents really well will now have to be spread out into a longer, wider but thinner 'small parcel' that will surely be more prone to damage... Just doesn't make sense.
  What was wrong with using weight as the main factor and a maximum size?
  I get stuck behind people asking for advice on sending packages in the post office enough as it is....
• I am finding this all very confusing- so does this mean that the Post office staff will now be issued with standard tape measures so they can quickly confirm the size of boxes deeper than 8cm but with smaller sides that enable them to still go as a small parcel? I can see endless problems with a sender measuring it all out and being just within the sizes and the PO deciding that it is actually a MM over ....
• I hope they issue them with a new version of the plastic guides they currently use, it will end up like an epsiode of that wall game that Dale Winton hosted.
• I'm sure this is all strategic for Royal Mail - keeping letters the same but basically pricing themselves out of the parcel market. Oh well. I'll have to go 100% courier now. For one thing, our local postmistress is likely to have a melt down - she's still only just getting to grips with "large letter" and asks me whether Belfast is in the UK or not...
• I always use myhermes parcel shop for deliveries instead of Royal Mail. They are a lot more convenient with better tracking and more locations near my house.
  https://www.myhermes.co.uk/parcelshop
• I sell cuddly toys and small items that will be over the 8cm depth. No-one is going to pay over Ј5 for postage!!! I can't belive it, my part- time job is at a stand still and money from that has dropped to Ј40 so been relying on Ebay. Big mistake. Thanks Royal Mail
  *** Wanders off to look at going bankrupt thread***