Royal Mail: When does a letter become a small packet when posting outside uk?

tieman

Just sent a 30gm letter to France on International Signed for service and the regular guy at our local PO tried to convince me that as my letter was printed out rather than being a hand written it should go at the printed paper small packet rate! Fortunately I managed to convince him that a letter with personal correspondence in it is still a letter even if printed, so not charged the extra £1.72 for small packet

So in reply to many earlier postings, looks like unless you have the official RM details printed out with you per an EP it really is down to how an individual interprets the regs.

Tieman.

gatolt

Here is a quotation from The Royal Mail Overseas Letter Post Scheme 2013:
"6.3....To be sent as a letter the maximum weight must not exceed 100 grams and size must not exceed 245 x 165 mm with a maximum thickness of 5 mm (please note that the
standard letter sizes quoted here reflect standard international letter dimensions which may be slightly larger than standard UK letter dimensions)."
However this description stated only for Business customers . Retail customers depends on education of Post Office employees.

Luckily Post Office employees has very little knowledge about new scheme so we can refer to old OVERSEAS LETTER POST SCHEME 2001 :“letter” includes any communication in the nature of current and personal correspondence, and also includes a packet transmitted at the letter rate of postage and containing goods or articles of merchandise;" In other words if packet up to 100 g contains a personal letter- it's still a letter. So far it works for me...

ballisticbrian

There's no mention of the restrictions other than 100g on the 2013 price list, so until there is a new price list issued, I'm still using letter rate and they all go through ok.

campdave

The feb 2013 scheme has yet to be implemented - there is a note buried somewhere in the Royal Mail website about it.

There are rumours on the community ebay site that it contravenes the international postage scheme and cannot be implemented at all, which was why it was not brought in with the April 2013 changes.

Essentially, I'm with you and continue to post at letter rate until a specific size guide tells me otherwise.

ballisticbrian

When they do eventually bring this in, it will be the final nail in the coffin and end of an affordable international mail service for this country.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

When they do eventually bring this in, it will be the final nail in the coffin and end of an affordable international mail service for this country.

If it is ever implemented then a swathe of my bread and butter items will have to be withdrawn from worldwide availability.

EdiScot

In The Royal Mail Overseas Letter Post Scheme, dated 1st March 2013, available on the Royal Mail website, paragraph 9.1c says
"The weight and format: for pricing purposes items are classed as either letters or packets as follows: Items which do not exceed 100g in weight and 245mm by 165mm by 5mm in size are deemed to be letters for pricing purposes."

So, for example, a small packet weighing 20g sent airmail to Europe where the Post Office clerk wanted to charge £3.00 should in fact be 88p. The current "Our Prices" leaflet does not make any of this clear so it's not surprising the Post Office staff are confused.

isthatd4

Hello, Today I sellotaped an SD card inside a birthday card for my brother in canada, the envelope was size C5, was 4mm thick and weighed 29g. I was told at the post office that because of the SD card a customs declaration sticker (CN22) would be required… fair enough I thought. Then I was informed that putting a customs declaration on a letter makes it a small parcel, so the postage then went up from £1.88 to £3.50, is this correct? Can anyone point me towards the royal mail webpage that explains this, as I can't find one. Thanks.

EdiScot

As a new member, I'm not allowed to give a web link but if you Google "Royal Mail Overseas Letter Post Scheme", you should find it. See paras 9.1c and 6.3.

isthatd4

Cheers, I had a read through those sections and 23 about customs control and I can't find any mention of letters with a customs CN22 sticker being classed as small parcels, so I assume the PO staff are wrong. I think I'll call royal mail next week just to be sure. :-)