Post Office prices.

knightstyle

No wonder they are in trouble my DW has just been charged £4.79 to post a small paperback book to someone.
It had to go as a small parcel as she had wrapped it in bubble wrap which made it too thick for a large letter.

vacheron

Yes, it makes no sense to use first class or "signed for" small parcels any more.

Tracked 48 is cheaper, (£3.39) has far higher insurance cover, plus you can send up to 2KG and they will collect it from your home or workplace for free.

2nd class bog standard should only have been £3.25, but I would gladly pay the extra 14p for all of the above.  

soolin

knightstyle said:

No wonder they are in trouble my DW has just been charged £4.79 to post a small paperback book to someone.
It had to go as a small parcel as she had wrapped it in bubble wrap which made it too thick for a large letter.

The post office now has different prices to Royal Mail on all but letters and light large letters. If you buy postage online, and then take it to the PO using a pre printed label or a QR code it is cheaper. A standard 2nd class parcel for instance online is £3.25 or £3.39 for RM48 . 

jon81uk

Second class small parcel is £3.75 at the Post Office or £3.25 online from Royal Mail.
First class is the £4.79 you paid at the Post Office, or £4.09 direct from Royal Mail online.

Did you really need to send it first class for the extra £1.04 to get it there a few days quicker?

Largs

I had no idea they had a 2 tier price and will remember this in future.  Thanks for sharing.

Pollycat

knightstyle said:

No wonder they are in trouble my DW has just been charged £4.79 to post a small paperback book to someone.
It had to go as a small parcel as she had wrapped it in bubble wrap which made it too thick for a large letter.

I sell stuff on eBay, just as a private seller getting rid of my own unwanted stuff.

I know the dimensions/weight for large letter and small parcel and the prices.

It pays to be informed when you go to the post office as sometimes they 'upsell' (e.g. signed for when you don't want that).

I know exactly how much my items will cost to send.

dinosaur66

i sell dvds and cds on my ebay shop

when i started in 2001 a vhs video /  was from memory 95p second class and £1.15 first class

stamps were 19p second class for cd but i cannnot ever remember selling them on ebay back then- i think they were to dear to buy

now today vhs videos are small parcels but from memory again i think there was a under 1kg rule in 2001  and vhs videos were posted  as a large letter ?

Chrysalis

jon81uk said:

Second class small parcel is £3.75 at the Post Office or £3.25 online from Royal Mail.
First class is the £4.79 you paid at the Post Office, or £4.09 direct from Royal Mail online.

Did you really need to send it first class for the extra £1.04 to get it there a few days quicker?

80p is neither here or there, the first class in your example is a no brainer.  To me a 33% increase in cost to change from 1-2 weeks delivery time to 1-3 days, no brainer.  However also as said above using tracked 48 is probably better.  I would probably rather use Hermes (whatever they called now) than bog standard 2nd class.

soolin

Chrysalis said:

jon81uk said:

Second class small parcel is £3.75 at the Post Office or £3.25 online from Royal Mail.
First class is the £4.79 you paid at the Post Office, or £4.09 direct from Royal Mail online.

Did you really need to send it first class for the extra £1.04 to get it there a few days quicker?

80p is neither here or there, the first class in your example is a no brainer.  To me a 33% increase in cost to change from 1-2 weeks delivery time to 1-3 days, no brainer.  However also as said above using tracked 48 is probably better.  I would probably rather use Hermes (whatever they called now) than bog standard 2nd class.

2nd class is usually only a day or 2 slower than 1st class, it certainly isn’t as wildly different as you suggest. I use 2nd class standard parcels at £3.25 daily for lower cost items and upgrade to RM48 for parcels over £20 @£3.39 , both arrive within 2-4 days usually with the odd parcel taking a week or so. I certainly wouldn’t be paying an extra pound to try and get it to a buyer one day earlier , and although I offer the upgrade on a lot of my items, I can’t recall the last time a buyer opted to pay extra for 1st class. 

In my area most couriers are slower, I’ve been waiting for an Evri parcel now since the 24 th (it might arrive today looking at tracking). I also have the issue that both Yodel and Evri leave things on my drive in full view of passer-by’s, whereas RM will take them away and try to redeliver a different day, or leave me a red card to collect myself. 

LightFlare

For most things, it’s still cheaper than me having to get in my car and hand deliver the item