Royal Mail April 2022 : RM24 and 1st class parcels prices

[Justin Smith]

RM Apr 22 prices :
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/roy...oyal-mail-business-price-guide-april-2022.pdf

We almost never send anything bigger than 2Kg by RM24 because we thought it was really expensive.
However, I have just been researching the RM Apr 22 prices and RM24 now lists, for the first time, the under 10Kg and under 20Kg weight categories. It used to only quote up to 2Kg and it was very difficult to find out how much the higher weight bands were (I suspected it was "political" with Parcelforce !) but they are there now, on page 16, at £5.95 under 5Kg and £10.95 under 20Kg (plus current fuel surcharge - 6% - and VAT).
But ! On page 7 it says that a 1st class Medium parcel under 10Kg is £20.25, and under 20Kg £28.55.
I know they aren't strictly speaking the same service, but how can such a huge price difference be explained ?
Are the parcel sizes the same ?
Have I got something wrong here ?

 

[paulears]

Parcelforce are shutting down their reward system and the discounts I get from the start of April and the new prices are not available till then.

 

[Justin Smith]

they are there now, on page 16, at £5.95 under 5Kg and £10.95 under 20Kg (plus current fuel surcharge - 6% - and VAT).

Typo here, it should read £5.95 under 10Kg.
Is this really right ?
For a medium size parcel (the one that must fit within a box 61cm x 46cm x46cm) ?

 

[paulears]

Well - Parcelforce's decision to scrap rewards for u and replaced it with a simpler cheaper version have failed miserably - I can't use them any more. Their business account prices are stupid, rewards for was much cheaper, so now today, first day my first parcel normally £6.21 plus VAT (including insurance up to £200) is now £10.10. UPS is cheaper. Parcelforce Business account won't even accept one of my parcels as the size is wrong, but OK for the domestic service??

A shame - they've been 100% reliable and often very quick on the 48 service. UPS next day is now cheaper! The UPS drop-off is 20m away too.

They've lost my £200-300 a week spend - the only snag is it means more paperwork and fiddling, but I'll get used to it!

 

[Justin Smith]

I can confirm the much cheaper rate for medium parcels over 2Kg appears to be correct.
We sent a medium parcel of 4Kg to the Isle Of Mull (which would have been very expensive with our normal carrier DX Express) for £7.57 incl VAT.

 

[MikeCC]

Don't forget with RM24 on contract, you will either be on an agreed rate for everything, or a daily average for lower volumes. So if you have packages over 2kg but others to make average under 1kg, then 1kg rate is what you pay for everything.

 

[paulears]

...... and today, I discovered the ebay UPS option (4.99) for small items doesn't cover Northern Ireland! Parcelforce cost me just under ten quid!

 

[alan1302]

...... and today, I discovered the ebay UPS option (4.99) for small items doesn't cover Northern Ireland! Parcelforce cost me just under ten quid!

Could use Evri/Hermes for Northern Ireland

 

[paulears]

Yes, that option was available, but I've put a few self imposed restrictions on ex-Hermes. Nothing valuable, nothing delicate, nothing irreplaceable. Is this now wrong?