Royal Mail Parcel Boxes ok for tracked items?

[braddo]

Royal mail says not to put tracked items in parcel boxes. Queues in store are a nightmare at moment. A colleague of mine does not have the time to wait an hour to send off some packages.

Does anyone know what happens if one places a tracked item in a parcel box? Obviously it won't get scanned into the system upon deposit but does it get picked up a day or so later and enter the tracking system as normal from that point onwards?

I use other countries' postal services (Germany) and it works like that. Pop it in a post box and it appears on the tracking link a few days later....

Any insights appreciated! Thanks!

https://www.royalmail.com/d8/parcel-post-boxes

 

[alan1302]

It would still get picked up and tracked - not sure if Royal Mail would pay out in case of a claim for loss or damge though if you don't have the recepit to show it being dropped off.

 

[Paul Norman]

It would still get picked up and tracked - not sure if Royal Mail would pay out in case of a claim for loss or damge though if you don't have the recepit to show it being dropped off.

Royal Mail will insist on sight of the drop off receipt in the event of a claim. As you suspect, they will not pay out.

 

[braddo]

Thanks Guys. As I suspected.

Value is low so payouts not an issue. Although FWIW its ridiculous that they work that way. Common sense would dictate that once the package is picked up by the tracking mechanisms, it can be definitively proven as having been posted, so it seems a bit illogical that they deny responsibility without a counter receipt. To be expected from behemoths like Royal Mail though.

 

[alan1302]

Thanks Guys. As I suspected.

Value is low so payouts not an issue. Although FWIW its ridiculous that they work that way. Common sense would dictate that once the package is picked up by the tracking mechanisms, it can be definitively proven as having been posted, so it seems a bit illogical that they deny responsibility without a counter receipt. To be expected from behemoths like Royal Mail though.

Why bother with tracking at all if you aren't going to claim though? Will just cost more to send.

I do agree if the parcel goes missing they should pay out - but if it's damaged then they have no proof you did not put the damaged parcel in the post like it so you could make a claim.

 

[matlob]

I guess if the customer knows it is tracked they are less likely to say it has not arrived and try and get a refund. At least there is proof to the customer it has arrived.

 

[braddo]

Its for the customers. They're mainly in the US. Logistics are a mess at the moment and packages are taking numerous weeks to get to them. They need tracking numbers just so that customers can follow them and also so I can keep an eye on how long its taking on average.

Is tracking not kind of expected in eCommerce nowdays anyway? Its a £40 (to the customer) item. I think most people want to be able to track a £40 purchase, don't they? I'm pretty sure that most stuff I buy online, even cheap stuff on eBay tends to generate a tracking link for me to follow if I choose to

 

[alan1302]

Is tracking not kind of expected in eCommerce nowdays anyway? Its a £40 (to the customer) item. I think most people want to be able to track a £40 purchase, don't they? I'm pretty sure that most stuff I buy online, even cheap stuff on eBay tends to generate a tracking link for me to follow if I choose to

On a £40 then yeah, I think you would expect some kind of tracking - suppose it depends on what you are sending - if it's a £4 item on eBay then maybe not - generally the cheaper stuff on eBay give you what appears to be a tracking number but does not actually do anything as it's just a Royal Mail code and does not track the items.

From a business point of view if it costs £1 more to send it tracked then you would need to loose 1 in 40 parcels to make it worthwhile.

 

[braddo]

It costs me a lot more than £1 extra for tracking.

Standard to the US is £3.80
Tracked for the same package is £9.35

Customers do expect it though. Esp with my product. £40 isn't a huge amount of money but it is at the premium end of its category, so to a customer forking out this much for a product in this category, I think its reasonable to expect a tracking number as part of an overall premium customer experience, so I've never considered not doing it.

 

[Mr D]

Its for the customers. They're mainly in the US. Logistics are a mess at the moment and packages are taking numerous weeks to get to them. They need tracking numbers just so that customers can follow them and also so I can keep an eye on how long its taking on average.

Is tracking not kind of expected in eCommerce nowdays anyway? Its a £40 (to the customer) item. I think most people want to be able to track a £40 purchase, don't they? I'm pretty sure that most stuff I buy online, even cheap stuff on eBay tends to generate a tracking link for me to follow if I choose to

Tracking is nice, it's of benefit to the seller not the customer.
The customer can always get a refund. The seller can at best inform the buyer it's been delivered with tracking even if the buyer has not had it.
Tracking is not quite the same as receiving the item.