Royal Mail posting options through their app - Tracked 24/48 for a single item?

BooJewels

I'm hoping that the knowledgeable sellers on here can help me with this, as I'm getting increasingly confused.

I have a small parcel to send out to a customer which contains a reasonably valuable item that I made (that's pertinent in terms of insurance, as RM will only reimburse me the raw materials if it's lost and in this case, a tiny fraction of its retail value, as there's a lot of work in it).  I'd ordinarily send it Special Delivery, but can't this time.   I would like a slightly better service than standard large envelope post that I use for lower valued orders - preferably with some sort of tracking.  I'm shielding with my husband and don't want to attend a post office and the recipient is a key worker who will be out at work and not able to sign for the parcel.    So I want something that will arrive within a few days (assuming that local services are working decently, which they were earlier this week) and I can track that it's been delivered.

The Royal Mail web site directs on-line sellers etc. to use their app to print postage etc. at home.  If I start to 'send an item' through the app, it gives me assorted options and either Tracked 24 or 48 would be ideal for me (tracked but no sig needed).  But I had thought these services were only available for high volume customers, which I'm not.  The web page states that you can use the app for single items.

So I have 2 questions really - can I send a single item as RM Tracked 24/48 through the app (I got as far as them asking me for the recipient's address) but didn't go further yet.
Secondly, it states to send these via a 'customer service centre', but doesn't specify further what this is (a search for local facilities within the app doesn't include this term), other than they can't be sent through a post office.  We have a local Priority Parcel Box and the app states it can be posted in one of these.  So if I buy this service and print my label and drop this parcel into said box, will it be tracked, after it is presumably scanned at some point in its journey?  The app actually gives opening hours for the letterbox, so presumably, if you post outside these hours, it will be treated as received the following working day?

I've been a RM customer for a long time and thought I was decently familiar with their services, but this situation and the terminology they're using has me totally perplexed.

custardy

It says CSP (Customer service point)
AKA Royal mail office. You an search on royal mails depot finder.
If you put it in a post box then you will be unlikely to be able to claim for loss/damage.
The tracking will (likely) update at some point in the journey and highly likely by the delivery point.

BooJewels

Thanks @custardy - there is some slight contradiction (or at least the details are vague enough to allow for misunderstanding) between different areas of Royal Mail's published information.  I think they've changed some services due to the current situation, but not all of the information is now consistent.  

In the end, I went through the app to 'send' this parcel and got as far as the 'confirm the details and pay' page at which time it flashed up a warning that this item needed to be handed in to a CSP.  So I didn't go any further. As an example of the confusion, the app stated that it had to go to a CSP, but not a post office.  But using the depot finder you mentioned, it turns up the local PO inside a supermarket, that I don't want to visit.  So, presumably in this case, they're one and the same thing (i.e. the sorting office proper is miles away) but it's certainly not clear on any of this information.  I'm simply not prepared to take a risk on the basis of an assumption and vague details.

I looked at all manner of couriers and services and they'd all either necessitate me taking it somewhere to 'post' or that the customer would have to sign for it - neither of which are possible at just the moment.  So I've posted it in my normal 'currently safe' manner.  And will cross my fingers.

custardy

BooJewels said:

Thanks @custardy - there is some slight contradiction (or at least the details are vague enough to allow for misunderstanding) between different areas of Royal Mail's published information.  I think they've changed some services due to the current situation, but not all of the information is now consistent.  

In the end, I went through the app to 'send' this parcel and got as far as the 'confirm the details and pay' page at which time it flashed up a warning that this item needed to be handed in to a CSP.  So I didn't go any further. As an example of the confusion, the app stated that it had to go to a CSP, but not a post office.  But using the depot finder you mentioned, it turns up the local PO inside a supermarket, that I don't want to visit.  So, presumably in this case, they're one and the same thing (i.e. the sorting office proper is miles away) but it's certainly not clear on any of this information.  I'm simply not prepared to take a risk on the basis of an assumption and vague details.

I looked at all manner of couriers and services and they'd all either necessitate me taking it somewhere to 'post' or that the customer would have to sign for it - neither of which are possible at just the moment.  So I've posted it in my normal 'currently safe' manner.  And will cross my fingers.

Yes,it will list all offices including Post Offices & Parcelforce. However next to the RM offices you will see drop off returns and pre paid items. Trust me,take a pre paid Tracked item to a Post Office and you will be wasting your time and likely get a frosty reception as its RMs way of circumventing Post Office and increasing profits.
A Post Office cannot be a Royal Mail CSP. RM is a totally separate company from Post Office.