Sending Passport Through The Post

smudge56

HMPO has a contract with the courier company to deliver all passports and any documents that the applicant has paid an extra £3.00 to be returned by a secure delivery service.
In some outlying areas the courier company send out the passports by disguised mail using Royal Mail.
HMPO DO NOT use Royal Mail to send out passports (unless an upgrade has been requested and the extra fee plus RM Special Delivery fee has been paid). They do send out documents and cancelled passports by 2nd class mail. They do not use 1st class mail.

benjus

custardy wrote: »

I would say its a typo
SD is used for high risk areas(or no doubt areas the courier doesnt deliver to)
courier for the rest

So you think the courier service is cheaper than Special Delivery? May be true, but I find it rather hard to believe. And if it's not cheaper, why not use SD for everything?

custardy wrote: »

and once more as it seems people still dont get it.
Post Office Counters dont do any mail delivery

Not sure what that's in reference to.

custardy

benjus wrote: »

So you think the courier service is cheaper than Special Delivery? May be true, but I find it rather hard to believe. And if it's not cheaper, why not use SD for everything?



Not sure what that's in reference to.

Yes the courier service will be cheaper than SD.
Same as RM tracked is cheaper as a tracked service with no sig.
Im not sure why you find it hard to believe?
Reference to your own post

not potentially languishing in a post office delivery depot because no-one was at home.

benjus

custardy wrote: »

Yes the courier service will be cheaper than SD.
Same as RM tracked is cheaper as a tracked service with no sig.
Im not sure why you find it hard to believe?

IME couriers in general tend to be more expensive than RM services, including special delivery. But fair enough, I'll take your word for it.

Interestingly though, the passport service's web page states that they use recorded delivery rather than special delivery, which I would assume to be cheaper than a courier - unless it's just a mistake.

custardy wrote: »

Reference to your own post

Well sorry for the trivial mistake - the collection offices are frequently next to post offices, and if the Royal Mail and Post Office brands are conflated in many people's minds, that's just down to their branding strategy. Anyway, it has no bearing on the topic being discussed.

custardy

benjus wrote: »

IME couriers in general tend to be more expensive than RM services, including special delivery. But fair enough, I'll take your word for it.

Interestingly though, the passport service's web page states that they use recorded delivery rather than special delivery, which I would assume to be cheaper than a courier - unless it's just a mistake.

Well recorded delivery doesnt exist. So it can't be accurate either way. You say couriers tend to be more expensive than RM,so why wouldn anyone use one if it meets RMs size criteria?

Well sorry for the trivial mistake - the collection offices are frequently next to post offices, and if the Royal Mail and Post Office brands are conflated in many people's minds, that's just down to their branding strategy. Anyway, it has no bearing on the topic being discussed.

Their branding strategy? Well one is a private company and one is state owned. So I would have thought people would work it out?
Given people are confusing courier delivery with standard RM post,then I think it needs every clarification.