New RM online postage prices from 7th October

soolin

misterthrifty said:

For most of the ebay items I send this will work out as a drop in prices. I use stamps, which I buy at a discount, and send parcels second class, most of them are treated as 1st class and reach their destination the next day. Small & medium parcels using 2nd class are coming down around £1 each, so I'm pleased.
The international prices look horrendous, more complicated and costly so that will have an impact on overseas sales. 

Out of interest Is your £1 saving per parcel before or after the price difference between using stamps or buying online?

I ask because the difference between online and PO labels are quite big- so to save a pound your discounted stamps must be super cheap.

The new prices for a standard small parcel are online £3..25 at the PO £3.75 - so 50p more
Medium is even bigger, £4.85 online £6.18 at PO so a difference of £1.33.

I haven't even looked at overseas as I stopped posting overseas a few years back, far too much hassle and I'm trying to wind down a bit and take things easier- even on the business front.

molerat

RFW said:

coupleuk said:

"Universal Postage Service delivering 6 days a week" - oh boy did I laugh.

We live in a Somerset Town of 22,000 with a large Royal Mail sorting office.

For months now we receive our post on just ONE DAY PER WEEK.

My wife received 1 birthday card on time this week, no doubt the remainder will arrive with our weekly delivery next week.

Forget about a 1st Class Service or a 2nd Class Service - we're below a Third World class of service here.

There are more than two services anyway. The system is so ridiculous now that I have about 20 different options for sending the same parcel if I'm selling on Amazon (who have their own RM prices). They're all essentially first and second class but there are differences in how they're handled. I suspect regular stamps are at the bottom of the list now.

We see the postie a few times a week but they are one driving the van and one popping out delivering something to a few houses - usually parcel sized.  Yesterday I received a big pile of mail, all different dates, one being tracked 48 which is likely why we received anything at all - one of the select few on the delivery schedule.

A pity I am no longer on the postal panel as I could see the junk mail we were supposed to receive each week - currently we get very little and ones that have dated offers are usually out of date.  Businesses are paying RM good money to have that stuff delivered to a schedule.

misterthrifty

soolin said:

Out of interest Is your £1 saving per parcel before or after the price difference between using stamps or buying online?

I ask because the difference between online and PO labels are quite big- so to save a pound your discounted stamps must be super cheap.

The new prices for a standard small parcel are online £3..25 at the PO £3.75 - so 50p more
Medium is even bigger, £4.85 online £6.18 at PO so a difference of £1.33.

I haven't even looked at overseas as I stopped posting overseas a few years back, far too much hassle and I'm trying to wind down a bit and take things easier- even on the business front.

The savings are between the current price for 2nd class parcels & the price from October.
Small parcel now is £3.69 in Oct £3.25
Medium parcel 2kg now £5.89 in Oct £4.85
Medium parcel 10kg now £7.39 in Oct £6.35
Maybe RM are trying to bring those prices nearer to online.
So a decent reduction on what I'm paying now. I buy the stamps in bulk mixed values, it needs sorting but they are substantially below face prices, which makes it worth persevering with them. I also like to support the PO as I think we will lose a lot of subs as they get less post to handle.

Kim_13

miller said:

I think I can see a positive... if you put a first class letter stamp on a large letter by mistake the recipient won't be asked to pay £5.20 like now as £1.65 is more than £1.55 (second class large letter).

Or will they still send the ‘fee to pay’ card, on the basis that 1st class had been indicated and therefore postage was underpaid?

soolin

Kim_13 said:

miller said:

I think I can see a positive... if you put a first class letter stamp on a large letter by mistake the recipient won't be asked to pay £5.20 like now as £1.65 is more than £1.55 (second class large letter).

Or will they still send the ‘fee to pay’ card, on the basis that 1st class had been indicated and therefore postage was underpaid?

I can't see how, as you can use 1st class stamps in part to pay for 2nd class postage. When I used to use stamps I did it all the time.

soolin

misterthrifty said:

soolin said:

Out of interest Is your £1 saving per parcel before or after the price difference between using stamps or buying online?

I ask because the difference between online and PO labels are quite big- so to save a pound your discounted stamps must be super cheap.

The new prices for a standard small parcel are online £3..25 at the PO £3.75 - so 50p more
Medium is even bigger, £4.85 online £6.18 at PO so a difference of £1.33.

I haven't even looked at overseas as I stopped posting overseas a few years back, far too much hassle and I'm trying to wind down a bit and take things easier- even on the business front.

The savings are between the current price for 2nd class parcels & the price from October.
Small parcel now is £3.69 in Oct £3.25
Medium parcel 2kg now £5.89 in Oct £4.85
Medium parcel 10kg now £7.39 in Oct £6.35
Maybe RM are trying to bring those prices nearer to online.
So a decent reduction on what I'm paying now. I buy the stamps in bulk mixed values, it needs sorting but they are substantially below face prices, which makes it worth persevering with them. I also like to support the PO as I think we will lose a lot of subs as they get less post to handle.

You might want to recheck your postage prices, small parcel with stamps (IE not online)  is £3.75 from October , medium parcel up to 2kg  is £6.15 and medium up to 10kg is £7.65 .

Currently they are £3.69 (small parcel) medium is £5.89 and £7.39 respectively, so all have gone up not down.

Your £3.25 small parcel postage is for online prices as are the £4.85 and £6.35 , the prices you need to look at are on this sheet Our prices (valid from 7 October 2024) (royalmail.com)

By using online postage I can save 50p on a small parcel and £1.33 on a medium parcel - without needing to buy discounted stamps, and my parcels have delivery confirmation. That's why I questioned your figures, I think you picke dup the wrong sheet for prices unfortunately.

frosch411

I am sure these quarterly rises will encourage the public to use the services more to bring back demand 
At this rate, we might just as well bring back pigeon carriers and smoke signals 

MsMoon

I see second class stays the same, given that the service is so abysmal - why would anyone pay for first class anyway?

soolin

MsMoon said:

I see second class stays the same, given that the service is so abysmal - why would anyone pay for first class anyway?

People do and I have no idea why. On ebay it might be because of the algorithms where to reach certain business levels you have to offer a certain sort of postage , but for just normal post- I've no idea .

On ebay many years ago when I was constantly chasing TRS or powerseller whatever the buzz word was at the time, I used to have a whole raft of postage to qualify. 2nd class free, 1st class and special delivery or fast courier as a paid for. Now I rarely bother with anything other than a single postage option, either free - or 2nd class. In fact I'm even starting to move away from free, as it makes no difference to my sales and despite ebay statements to the contrary doesn't help at all in my ranking. By using paid postage it means when there is a rise in 2nd class I only have to change my business policies to reflect the increase and all my listings are automatically changed. When I have free postage I have to change every listing to increase the item price. 

RFW

soolin said:

MsMoon said:

I see second class stays the same, given that the service is so abysmal - why would anyone pay for first class anyway?

People do and I have no idea why. On ebay it might be because of the algorithms where to reach certain business levels you have to offer a certain sort of postage , but for just normal post- I've no idea .

It depends what/where you're selling. Lately I've been selling with Seller Fulfilled Prime on Amazon and I have to use 24 hour service. That said, it's pretty impressive. It's almost 100% that arrives next day, it's rare that something doesn't arrive next day. It goes back to the point I was making earlier, there are more than two classes. The Amazon parcels on a 24 hour service have priority over regular first class post.