Postage/Royal Mail alternatives for small parcels?

[iTopz]

Basically I send a high volume of post via Royal Mail who are pretty useless. I wondered if there were any alternatives:
I.e. is there a service out there which can deliver in the same time frame, and is cheaper? I know for large parcels that the Royal Mail is pretty terrible, but they don't seem to have any competitors regarding small parcels?
Secondly, does anyone know of 'franked mail' and how much it costs for a franking machine? As I think it may save me time/money doing it myself?
Thanks.

 

[Claire H]

I've used Interparcel a couple of times and they seem pretty reliable and good value. I can't help I'm afraid re the franked mail.

 

[Raw Rob]

Opening an account with Royal Mail generally gives you better prices than franking and you don't have the costs of a franking machine. The terminology Royal Mail use is OBA for Online Business Account, and PPI for the 1 or 2 symbol which you print on your letters/parcels.

 

[paulears]

I use parcel to go - and select the best service for each different type of package - and most are cheaper as VAT is reclaimable.

 

[iTopz]

I use parcel to go - and select the best service for each different type of package - and most are cheaper as VAT is reclaimable.

I have just checked them out, having never heard of them before. I have just seen UPS do parcels for 75p+15p vat...is this for real?
So instead of paying £1.20 or £2.30 for the Royal Mail, I could have a tracked package for 90p?
Is this serious? I don't know whether to laugh or cry it seems too good to be true.

Edit: Is there a cheaper option then for small parcels of DVD sizes? I.e. cheaper than the Royal Mail? Thanks.

 

[japancool]

I have just checked them out, having never heard of them before. I have just seen UPS do parcels for 75p+15p vat...is this for real?
So instead of paying £1.20 or £2.30 for the Royal Mail, I could have a tracked package for 90p?
Is this serious? I don't know whether to laugh or cry it seems too good to be true.

The 75p option is for UPS shop-to-shop. You drop it off at a UPS shop and the customer collects from a UPS shop.

 

[moo-tique]

Hi,

We use Interlink for all our medium/large parcels and find their prices very reasonable. If you are planning on sending quite a lot, contact them and you may be able to open an account with them where prices could be even better!

Hope this helps.

Dan

 

[KevinRockett]

Hi,

I am recommending the FuturePro Logistics mail services to my online seller client base at the moment as their prices will save versus Royal Mail with the same delivery times. This mail solution has been designed and created specifically as an alternative to RM for etailers who have traditionally used RM for their low value parcel shipping where tracking, signature is not required.

That said, I am finding my clients are looking more and more at international tracked sevices this year and this is the area where FuturePro are particulary strong with a UPS tracked service to USA at £2.99 for 250g (£3.99 to Germany).

Hope that helps.

 

[sugarcupmedia]

Hi, Hermes started offering a 0-1kg parcel service just this week which is much more competitive pricing wise than Royal Mail, I always use them for parcels. Their delivery time tends to be around the same as Royal mail despite them saying up to 5 days. Not sure on the franking though sorry! All the best with it

 

[camorra]

As Royal Mail have just put their prices up yet again, we are looking for an alternative for small low value packets for our eCommerce business.

We have a OBA and upload the postage info everyday. We current pay:

£2.61 + VAT (£3.13 incl) for a UK untracked small packet under 0g to 1kg (these have now been re-branded 'parcels')

£3.35 for a European untracked standard airmail small pack/parcel (under 250g)

Has anyone else with a similar found an alternative?

Thanks...

 

[JJWinst]

I'm not sure what Despatch Bay is like nowadays, but I think they use to offer a cheaper service than RM. You can't however beat RM service. Most small parcels are delivered the following day when sent before 2PM we find.

 

[quarkelec]

As Royal Mail have just put their prices up yet again, we are looking for an alternative for small low value packets for our eCommerce business.

We have a OBA and upload the postage info everyday. We current pay:

£2.61 + VAT (£3.13 incl) for a UK untracked small packet under 0g to 1kg (these have now been re-branded 'parcels')

£3.35 for a European untracked standard airmail small pack/parcel (under 250g)

Has anyone else with a similar found an alternative?

Thanks...

In the same boat. Any ideas?

 

[bsewell]

I use parcel2go myself and have found their CS team to be pretty decent, but it depends on the service you buy. MyHermes are awful.

 

[KevinRockett]

Hi Camorra,

The FuturePro Logistics Mail Service I have recommended above in this thread as an alternative to RM would provide the following prices for you for those items you mention in direct comparison to RM.

UK Packet to 1kg - You currently pay : £2.61, FuturePro price : £1.96
EU Airmail 250g - You currently pay : £3.35, FuturePro price : £2.07

The same 250g airmail item if sent ROW untracked would be : £2.16 and 250g item sent tracked to USA £2.99 and tracked to Germany £3.99

There is no parcel sorting or other labour and collections are from premises.

Hope that helps, this service is in demand at moment as you can imagine, particulary this week due to RM price changes, I have been contacted a lot about RM alternatives, as to be expected.

 

[ecoleman]

As Royal Mail have just put their prices up yet again, we are looking for an alternative for small low value packets for our eCommerce business.

We have a OBA and upload the postage info everyday. We current pay:

£2.61 + VAT (£3.13 incl) for a UK untracked small packet under 0g to 1kg (these have now been re-branded 'parcels')

£3.35 for a European untracked standard airmail small pack/parcel (under 250g)

Has anyone else with a similar found an alternative?

Thanks...

Somethings wrong there. What service?
We send Small Parcels under 2Kg for £1.92+vat (after the price increase) on the 48 hour service.

Sorry, but for small parcels you still can't beat Royal Mail. For those looking to use a courier, you'll soon be back to Royal Mail.
I can count on one hand the number of losses we've from RM had in the past year. The same number of lossed / month by our courier.

 

[Merchant UK]

I used parcel 2 go for the first time yesterday and i'm well impressed with the service, printed my own labels and everything, so much cheaper than the royal mail.

 

[bsewell]

Somethings wrong there. What service?
We send Small Parcels under 2Kg for £1.92+vat (after the price increase) on the 48 hour service.

Sorry, but for small parcels you still can't beat Royal Mail. For those looking to use a courier, you'll soon be back to Royal Mail.
I can count on one hand the number of losses we've from RM had in the past year. The same number of lossed / month by our courier.

I agree.

RM are best for small parcels under 2kg, but when you need to send something large, up to 20kg, it can cost around the £30+ mark. Or you can use parcel2go and pay £8 for a fairly decent service.

 

[kulture]

Somethings wrong there. What service?
We send Small Parcels under 2Kg for £1.92+vat (after the price increase) on the 48 hour service.

Sorry, but for small parcels you still can't beat Royal Mail. For those looking to use a courier, you'll soon be back to Royal Mail.
I can count on one hand the number of losses we've from RM had in the past year. The same number of lossed / month by our courier.

I agree, but check your prices. You seem to have omitted the surcharge.

 

[Merchant UK]

You seem to have omitted the surcharge.

what surcharge is that??

 

[SwiftiPadHire]

I used to run a small online business selling on amazon. All my items were small and postage was cheap at the start around 50p. With all the prices hikes and movement of the weights/sizes etc, of recent years the cost went to £1.48.
I searched high and low and couldn't find anyone else though for small, letters/parcels.

Maybe with the recent privatisation of RM we can hope to see prices go down?? (wishful thinking)

 

[ecoleman]

I agree, but check your prices. You seem to have omitted the surcharge.

Oops, it appears I forgot the surcharge which is a few pence per order. Other than that there is no need to check my prices.

 

[kulture]

The normal price for 48h packetpost up to 1Kg is £1.98 per parcel, with a surcharge that brings it to £2.04. If you send more than 250 a day then it comes down to your rate of £1.92 (plus surcharge). Now at that rate (250+ parcels a day) you can almost certainly do better than the Royal Mail

 

[JJWinst]

Since the recent price hike my OBA is more expensive than using the RM website..We use code STL and send "Parcel" all under 1KG and the price is £2.95 EX VAT? What the..

 

[kulture]

I would use the code CL1 as that is £2.04 Ex VAT for parcels under 1Kg

 

[ecoleman]

We use code CRL

 

[Bruce_M]

I send about 45 items per week. 100g each item, small packet

Currently paying £2.80 per item using RM 2nd Class.

What would be the cheapest alternative?

 

[kulture]

Royal Mail Business Account. You are sending more than 2000 per year so you can sign up. this will reduce your cost to £2.04 (ex VAT) per parcel, assuming that they are not so small as to fit into a large letter size, which would make it even cheaper.

 

[TPH1]

The normal price for 48h packetpost up to 1Kg is £1.98 per parcel, with a surcharge that brings it to £2.04. If you send more than 250 a day then it comes down to your rate of £1.92 (plus surcharge). Now at that rate (250+ parcels a day) you can almost certainly do better than the Royal Mail

Where?

 

[Jordan Allan]

After launching my new online retail store I chose Consolidated Parcel Services based in Corby, Northamptonshire (www .consolidatedparcels.co.uk) to handle my B2C parcels. Their customer service and price (£2.30 less than 1kg & £3.48 less than 10kgs ), exceeded all of our expectations. And would recommend them to anyone.