Royal Mail new prices released

trying_hard

I went to the Post Office today and they showed me their new metal template. It's the same as the cardboard one and no mention on there about the cube.

lovinituk

What a mess! Its going to be hell in the PO's come April!

thebestnameshavegone

I've just been to my local P.O., and they have been sent a cardboard cube just slightly larger than 16cm x 16cm x 16cm and been told that if a package fits inside this box then it will qualify as a small parcel. This is a very small rural P.O., so hopefully that means that all branches will be similarly supplied.

Fingers crossed, anyway!

lovinituk

Sounds like there might be some hope yet!

thebestnameshavegone

My local P.O. has been incredibly helpful ever since I mentioned in passing that I was investigating an OBA..........funny, that!

jetplane

soolin wrote: »

Actually I think the guide is wrong, it does not take into account the exemptions for a small parcel.

Hopefully I am just having a blonde moment and am reading it wrong- they wouldn't send out an inaccurate guide....would they?

No I think someone else has mentioned it was wrong, what's an OBA? And does anyone know crowqueen's gone?

thebestnameshavegone wrote: »

My local P.O. has been incredibly helpful ever since I mentioned in passing that I was investigating an OBA..........funny, that!

macfly

I don't think there's any need for panic. All offices have been issued wuith the necessary equipment to decide the postage. Any branch struggling, of any size, just isn't preparing properly.
I've been in many offices where the staff think it will be chaos also. But that will be down to the many customers who have no inkling of the change and is unavoidable. All forum users will be ready.

thebestnameshavegone

It's an Online Business Account - previously to qualify for one you had to send something like 5,000 items a year, but to co-incide with the new charges they have decreased that to 1,000. Prices for this service are considerably cheaper than using the P.O. counter, although I'm by no means an expert (still investigating the pros and cons as I'm on the cusp of qualifying!).

lovinituk

thebestnameshavegone wrote: »

It's an Online Business Account - previously to qualify for one you had to send something like 5,000 items a year, but to co-incide with the new charges they have decreased that to 1,000. Prices for this service are considerably cheaper than using the P.O. counter, although I'm by no means an expert (still investigating the pros and cons as I'm on the cusp of qualifying!).

You used to be able to get a business account if you were sending less than 5000 items a year and you may still be able to get one after the changes even if you are sending under 1000 items. The old 5000 limit related to the even cheaper PacketPost service which is being replaced in April by the new RM24/48 services and has the 1000+ limit.

Don't wait until you reach 1000 items a year - contact them now. Even if you don't qualify for RM24/48 you may still be able to get a standard business account which is still cheaper than than PO retail prices.

thebestnameshavegone

macfly wrote: »

I don't think there's any need for panic. All offices have been issued wuith the necessary equipment to decide the postage. Any branch struggling, of any size, just isn't preparing properly.
I've been in many offices where the staff think it will be chaos also. But that will be down to the many customers who have no inkling of the change and is unavoidable. All forum users will be ready.

That's true - when I was talking to the P.O. staff yesterday, there was a collective gasp behind me in the queue as they overheard me mention the new charges. None of them had any idea (and many of them were carrying bags full of parcels!). I suspect that there will be lots of ever-so-slightly peeved sellers during the first week of the new prices as they discover that they have significantly under-charged on P&P.