royal mail price increases - plan of action?

nabiha87

hi,

i am dreading the price increases on the 21st and was wondering what was the best way to get round these and keep my costs down?

i regularly sell on ebay so dont want to get overcharged for postage and have to measure everything out

sorry if this has already been posted

frivolous_fay

Plan A: Crush all items to make them fit in a small package
Plan B: Start selling small slabs of lead

Seriously though... have you got one of the new pricing guages from RM? They have slots so you can tell what size your package will be.

Poser

Hand deliver you local post

soolin

Firstly don't panic. The most problems will be for people selling small items that currently post out for less than a pound and which are wider than 2.5cms when wrapped. For larger items or things that currently cost over £1 to post the effect will be marginal until you get to the whopping sizes.

I have had a trial run of several items and for me the increase will be huge. DVDs and CD's don'tqualify as large letters according to my post lady as in the jiffy bags I am currently using they don't slip easily through the guage at the Post office. I am therefore looking at using a different brand of jiffy bag, or maybe trying something with a thin foam (like the foam they often wrap round fruit) and plastic mail bags.

Alternatively I may have to see if any other post offices are more forgiving and will allow my packages through as they do fit the guage, they just won't fall through without help.

Another of my best sellers is unfortunately going to double in price to post. I currently pay 49p and in future they will cost £1 to post but there is no way I can make this item small enough to comply with the new sizes.

Personally I would try a few of your best sellers at the post office and see how they fit. I have the guage at home but as it is squishy it allows more to slip through than the rigid gauge does at the Post office, so I'm glad I did a trial run so I can adjust my postage costs accordingly.

The one thing to remember is that if an item doesn't fit the 'large letter' guage then regardless of its weight it is a package with a minimum charge of £1 for 1st class.

Soo

nabiha87

thanks for the useful explanation and advice soolin

i shall get a gauge, have already read the website about the change but just wanted some personal opinions

Contains_Mild_Peril

I've just got one of those leaflets with sizes marked, but I don't have a slot-type guage. I do wonder what would happen if a package within the "large letter" dimensions at the time of posting was over 25mm thick on arrival, after getting knocked around in the post. I can imagine this happening a lot when items such as small clothes are flat-packed to fit within "large letter" limits.

bleugh

.......my plan of action, emmigrate!!!!!
i've ebayed most of my stuff now anyway :-)

lovetoshop_2

I used to post boas which came in the 32p postage I think it is all a revenue making rip off, its all about money money money

soolin

A friend experimented with a pair of baby socks yesterday that she was sending as a gift. as they had ridged ankle cuffs and a board wrap they exceeded the large letter size as of course they couldn't be squashed flat purely becaus eof the way they are sold, luckily yesterday she could still send them for 32p . Under the new scheme though she could have taken them off the factory card and sent them flat as they were a gift, but then I'm not sure our ebay buyers would love it if we took tags off brand new items just to fit in the envelope flat.

It definitely looks like I may have to look to sell heavier items than I am currently!

Little_John

Does anyone know how the new charges affect international post? I send small items, badges and key rings in small 000 jiffy bags due to the item they are about 10mm thick and wont fit through the slot but the envelope is way under the smallest size.

annoying

soolin

Under the FAQ's it says:

8. What about International mail?
None of our International Services, ie. Airmail, Airsure, International Signed For and Surface Mail are affected by the changes.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content2?catId=28900662&mediaId=28900665#17100223

I take that to mean the International post will still be based on weight not size. For me that means Europe postage on one of my smaller items will be virtually the same as 1st class post within the UK.

Soo