Royal Mail new prices released

Strapped

What a c*ck-up...

I spoke to Royal Mail today re. opening an account to access RM24/48. I send more than 1000 parcels per annum, so thought it would be no problem, esp following the comments on here from people who have opened an account.

The call centre jockey was adamant that you can only open an account if you spend more than £5k per annum!

:mad:


Fortunately I called back and spoke to his manager who slapped him round the head and explained that the £5k min spend is only for senders of letters, and that >1000 parcels is the requirement for RM24/48. Phew. Royal Mail need to train their staff - bit poor if they don't know what the requirements are 4 working days before it goes live.

Not sure it bodes well lol.

DAK please, those who have a business account, what the price for 2-5kg parcels is? As I have significant amounts in this weight bracket.

Still a bit undecided tbh - if I stuck with despatchbay then I'd have the convenience of daily pick-up without having to darken the PO's door again. Tempting! But their max packet weight/size is 1.5kg/5 litres and then it jumps up to 30kg ParcelForce service. :undecided

Strapped

thewrongtrousers wrote: »

And who should I compare them with?

They carry my parcels from A to B same as any other other parcel carrier, if they choose to be classed as something different that is their own doing not mine, I will compare them with others that provide the same or similar services e.g. Collect Plus, Myhermes etc.

Despatch Bay is reasonable priced if you send more then 2/3 items a day and they are all within the 16x16x16 size but they use RM for their small packet service so the sizes will be tied in exactly the same way.

The other thing with RM is the Next Day SD 2kg-10kg is £25.80 how can they justify there not being another band in there. Now don't get me wrong I understand the need for price rises but they have to be realistic. The way they have done it with the size restrictions has meant the cost of some items has almost doubled for me!!!

My local Parcelforce guy mentioned they were taking on at least 20mill parcels from the 100mill RM were losing, the other couriers will get the rest. It will be sink or swim for some of them if they can cope then there may well be some proper competition to Royal Mail in a few years.

Their size restriction is 5 litres (5000 cubic centimetres) so slightly more flexible but yes, restricted.

Strapped

magic57 wrote: »

I'm helping my nephew find a decent postal arrangement. He is running a small business selling clothing (new). Presently he uses Royal Mail.

Has anyone used ParcelForce for sending roughly 5 parcels a day? Some are smallish packets large letter size but some are bulky. Do Parcel Force collect and are they only good for big parcels. I said I'd do some research for him but I'm getting really confused! He would ideally like a collection from home.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

I currently use Parcel Force via Despatch bay for my larger items. They collect. They do have a packet service. If he sends 5 per day then each packet would cost £3.80 inc VAT. But if he has lots which are large letter sized then he'd almost certainly be better with Royal mail, I'd've thought.

mig1989

according to my manager who had had a visit from the franking machine company...she tells me he said that that the price of stamps are going up something like 4/5p each but 'they are not advertising' surely this cant be right and royal mail would not get away with this? He had said about the franking prices going up this time but don't think they jumped up nearly as much at the last price change.

Florenceem

I am just a seller on Eb.. who is decluttering so my parcels, packets are very varied in size and weight. Most of my sales went as packets - weight up to 750g - £2.20. Will I be better staying with RM or trying to find some other service? I have approx 10 sales most weeks.

campdave

mig1989 wrote: »

according to my manager who had had a visit from the franking machine company...she tells me he said that that the price of stamps are going up something like 4/5p each but 'they are not advertising' surely this cant be right and royal mail would not get away with this? He had said about the franking prices going up this time but don't think they jumped up nearly as much at the last price change.

Franking machine company talking through their backside.

custardy

mig1989 wrote: »

according to my manager who had had a visit from the franking machine company...she tells me he said that that the price of stamps are going up something like 4/5p each but 'they are not advertising' surely this cant be right and royal mail would not get away with this? He had said about the franking prices going up this time but don't think they jumped up nearly as much at the last price change.

lol. So a person selling franking machines says RM have a secret stamp rise coming?
RM unlike most other companies cant simply up their prices overnight(yet)

Goldiegirl

I see from this thread that quite a few people are investigating couriers in an attempt to keep their prices down.

I fully understand why people are doing this, but as a buyer I prefer RM to deliver small to medium everyday items. I expect a courier for larger items, but a courier for smaller things puts me right off.

I like RM as I know approximately when my postman will call, so I can arrange to be in if I'm expecting anything. If I do happen to be out, I know which neighbour the parcel will be left with. If the parcel is not left with the neighbour, the sorting office is convenient for me to get to.

A courier can arrive anytime of day, might leave the parcel with someone I don't know half way up the street, and their depot is Gawd knows where.

The other day I was just about to bid on a small ornament, when I noticed it was a courier delivery, so I didn't bother.

Cost isn't the only consideration, convenience is important too. I'm wondering, if you are going to switch to a courier, will you also still offer RM as an alternative, or risk losing business because people might perceive that couriers are less reliable, slower and less convenient?

Just wondering what people's thoughts were.

thebestnameshavegone

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

thebestnamehasgone...... is it normally a good profit line??? if it is it might be worth holdinf back until your account is up and running, pitty to have a blow-out sale, when sitting on it for a few more weeks could get you your normal profit margins..

I am listing things which are 'slim':D so not to be caught out, until I can ( hopefully) get a OBA up and running, as by the sounds of it, even if I get a phone call today, and get accepted, it going to be about 2 weeks before it will be up and running...

I think you're right - I've got one or two items that don't weigh very much, yet are the size of a cushion. Losing sales history isn't the end of the world as there aren't pages of us selling these, and so I'll probably end the listings temporarily rather than halve my profit hoping to sell them this week.

I had the 'minimum spend of £5,000 a year' spiel too when I first called Royal Mail about an OBA, despite me first telling them how many parcels a day I usually send - turned out I knew more about it than the call centre guy (thanks to this thread!).

Florenceem

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I see from this thread that quite a few people are investigating couriers in an attempt to keep their prices down.

I fully understand why people are doing this, but as a buyer I prefer RM to deliver small to medium everyday items. I expect a courier for larger items, but a courier for smaller things puts me right off.

I like RM as I know approximately when my postman will call, so I can arrange to be in if I'm expecting anything. If I do happen to be out, I know which neighbour the parcel will be left with. If the parcel is not left with the neighbour, the sorting office is convenient for me to get to.

A courier can arrive anytime of day, might leave the parcel with someone I don't know half way up the street, and their depot is Gawd knows where.

The other day I was just about to bid on a small ornament, when I noticed it was a courier delivery, so I didn't bother.

Cost isn't the only consideration, convenience is important too. I'm wondering, if you are going to switch to a courier, will you also still offer RM as an alternative, or risk losing business because people might perceive that couriers are less reliable, slower and less convenient?

Just wondering what people's thoughts were.

I was listing a pair of shoes - would have gone for packet rate of £2.20 - now will be £5.20. That is a big postage increase.