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Thread: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

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    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    Exclamation Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Here comes a whole new clean sweep.

    Out with the packety parcel rate altogether, & In with weirdly-sized small, medium & large parcels.

    Price bands rejigged into much larger increments.

    Link to prices: http://www.royalmail.com/sites/defau..._April2013.pdf

    Small parcel dimensions are as follows: 45 x 35 x 8cm. Essentially, a fair-sized, but pretty flat packet, at £2.60 for up to 1 kg.

    Someone can correct me if I'm reading it wrong* but I've given it a pretty good going over & I can see no way to send a small but boxy parcel of up to 1kg (say a shoebox) for anything less than £5.20 new Medium Parcel 2nd class rate. This is compared to current 2nd class Packet rate of £2.20 for up to 750g, no size restriction.

    Effectively, this means you can now send a hefty-sized book for the same rate as a well-packed ping-pong ball.

    Ebayers, list & post your small chunky parcels before 2nd April.

    *edit - Someone has indeed corrected me small but boxy parcel 16 x 16 x 16 max falls into Small Parcels.
    Last edited by sammyc; 02-04-2013 at 10:53 PM.

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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    I've got loads of things to sell too, grrr. Better get down to the post office and buy loads of boxes and get this stuff shifted as fast as possible then. Thanks for the heads up!

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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Quote Originally Posted by sammyc View Post
    Small parcel dimensions are as follows: 45 x 35 x 8cm. Essentially, a fair-sized, but pretty flat packet.
    Whats the betting thats almost, if not exactly, the same size as a small Amazon box?

  5. #4
    OilSheikh
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Just appalling...

    £5.20 to send a book!

    I hope Royal Mail gets it and closes down / gets taken over by someone else who will drive the prices to sensible levels.

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    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    ^ A book will fall within the small parcel dimensions as quoted, if no bigger than 45 x 35 x 8, so will be £2.60 up to 1kg (sorry, my confusingly-worded post there).

    It's a parcel deeper than 8cm that will suddenly hop up to the medium parcel rate (max size 61 x 46 x 46) So a mm over the 8 and you are indeed looking at double, £5.20 at cheapest.
    Last edited by sammyc; 06-03-2013 at 01:18 AM.

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Quote Originally Posted by OilSheikh View Post
    Just appalling...

    £5.20 to send a book!

    I hope Royal Mail gets it and closes down / gets taken over by someone else who will drive the prices to sensible levels.

    Petrol costs about £7/gallon. If your car does 50mpg, then £5.20 will take about 35 miles. So if you are delivering a book to a destination more than about 17 miles away, it is cheaper to use RM, although slower.

    On the other hand if you live in Truro and are delivering the book to Inverness, it will probably be quicker and considerably cheaper to use RM.

    Of course, different sizes and weights will affect the distances and the economics.

    Of course, you could argue that a pricing model based on distance as well as weight/size would be fairer than a flat rate system where short distance deliveries subsidise long distance ones.
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    An ATX motherboard would fall within small parcel dimensions, but according to ebuyer cart weight of an ATX motherboard is 1.2Kg. So that makes it fall under the "upto 2Kg" bracket.

    Currently - 1st class standard £5.60 and signed for £6.55

    New price - 1st class standard £6.85 and signed for £7.95

    Interestingly the new price for 2nd class is £5.60 and signed for £6.70

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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    collect+ - £3.49 up to 20kg to the pickup point

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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Quote Originally Posted by HalloweenJack View Post
    collect+
    Zapper have started using collect+ - nearest point for us is a local petrol station. Seemed a bit weird to carry a big heavy box of books across the forecourt, but was very efficient when we got in there; couple of quick scans and job's done.

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    Senior Member mcmiller's Avatar
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Quote Originally Posted by OilSheikh View Post
    Just appalling...

    £5.20 to send a book!

    I hope Royal Mail gets it and closes down / gets taken over by someone else who will drive the prices to sensible levels.
    Are you a daily mail subscriber by any chance?

    Are you really surprised that the prices are increasing when internet is eating away at a large part of it's business and fuel prices are ridiculous now?

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    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    ..Although just to reiterate, a book will not cost £5.20 (unless it's thicker than 8cm).

    I don't wish to be responsible for a small uprising based on this price having been bandied in my original post, and now taking on an air of being gospel.

    It's the old packet rate sizes that will see the biggest hike, anything over that depth of 8cm; so cube-y shaped stuff, lumpy packages etc.

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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    And what's really odd is that ever since they brought in Pricing in Proportion,

    its been cheaper to send stuff to Germany than inside the UK !

    (as PiP doesn't apply to European mail !)
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Having now read the new regs - there is an exception for small cubes

    Exceptions apply. The following items are also priced as Small Parcels.

    Parcels that measure up to: Length: 16cm, Width: 16cm, Depth: 16cm.

    Also roll or cylinder shaped parcels that measure up to Length: 45cm, Diameter: 8cm.

    Unfortunately hard drive boxes we use are still outside that (24cm x 16cm x 9cm )
    Last edited by mikerr; 06-03-2013 at 11:00 PM.
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  16. #14
    OilSheikh
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Today is the price increase day.
    I used Price finder last night to send a phone + accessories in the phone box. Total weight was 400g. Postage cost 1st class Small packets - £3.20
    Went to post office today just for proof of postage and I had to pay £2 more !

    £5.20 to send a small box!

    Hermes and Collect+ all the way now!

  17. #15
    OilSheikh
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    And, even if you want Proof of postage, DO NOT let the Post office idiots weigh or try to fit it through their box outlines. Even if your bix is 1mm larger, they will put you on the next expensive band!

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    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    Re: Just when you'd got your head round Royal Mail pricing system..

    Quote Originally Posted by mikerr View Post
    Having now read the new regs - there is an exception for small cubes...
    Good grief, so there is, well spotted in small print. Thanks.

    Quote Originally Posted by OilSheikh View Post
    Hermes and Collect+ all the way now!
    Already do now, it was yourself who recommended them thanks.
    Last edited by sammyc; 02-04-2013 at 10:55 PM.

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