Royal Mail Cardboard Template Paper
Finally got the leaflet from my Post Office regarding the new prices. Tried to study and make as many notes on Word as possible for reference but I keep going back to square one. Struggling to read it correctly. Can someone on here who's got the gist of it give me a smart low down on the new prices for; First vinyl in the UK (first class and second class and recorded and special) and then each thereafter. Then prices per KG for their parcel services (including Standard Parcel and Parcelforce) Then the same process for Europe, then the rest of the world (international signed for and standard) I might be asking a lot, but I want to take this oppertunity to get the postage costs bang on and as accurate as possible. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.
One comment from across the pond: I notice that UK rates and many European rates for shipping have gone up much faster than rates in other parts of the world. It is still very reasonable for me to import things from Israel. Even shipping from Japan is less expensive than many EU countries including the UK.
Publishing mail, ecommerce (goods fulfilment) etc. • Items with goods fulfilment content tend to be more expensive for Royal Mail to handle as packaging is often not compatible with sorting machines and, due to packaging inflexibility, items are more likely to require 'redelivery' than traditional paper based. Royal Mail Mailmark®. Large Letter. Template guide (MISC 1311, MISC 1312 and MISC1462) Drafted: 10th March 2014. Effective from 31st March 2014. Version – 6.2. The purpose of this document is to provide a guide on the visual checks for both mandatory. Royal Mail is providing all households with a paper template that demonstrates the new pricing structure, with businesses receiving a cardboard version. Post Offices will have a plastic template that customers can use to test letters, and some stationers will sell a plastic ruler that has a 5mm slot for testing.
If it's any consolation rates from the U.S. Have also gone through the roof, to the point where, when I start selling again (today, maybe) I doubt I'll get any foreign orders since I don't have much that's really rare or special to offer. It's easy enough to just get a piece of card and mark on the dimensions and cut them out. I went to the post office with a long bit of cardboard and a marker pen, traced the outline of the Size Guide, and the insides of the 2 main 'holes'. The holes weren't exactly the correct size, as the pen only marks the area inside the hole, it isn't as accurate as a craft knife, or a scalpel. I wouldn't walk into the post office with a 'bladed-instrument', so the marker pen was probably the most sensible option!
I checked after cutting the holes out, and they were out by a couple of millimetres, so just needed to mark a few more 'guides' to get the sizes right. I have asked at the post office for an 'official' R.M.
Paper/card template, I will stick it to my 'home-made' effort, hopefully when I get it next week. On reflection, it would have been quicker and easier to have just marked the dimensions on a piece of cardboard at home and cut it to size at home:0) I can't believe someone is selling one of these (the official template) on eBay, and people are bidding!? It is almost at £10 (inc. Shipping) now with 7 hours still to go. What is almost unbelievable is that the exact same thing is available on a buy in now for £4.50 (inc.
Stupid people.sighs. They must not send many packages then!? Lol I have an old postage stamp sticker (not a postage stamp) that I use as a template and do an outline of this on packages so I can see where the best place is to put the address label, fragile/airmail stickers, and customs labels if it needs one.
Royal Mail Cardboard Template Paper Rolls
As I sell CDs, most of the packages are quite small compared to the size of vinyl sellers 12 x 12' mailers, I imagine you don't need to worry about these things if you have a package that size.! Got a phone call from my Post Office there, the woman that deals with me is great she just takes my items and I leave and she puts them through later in the day when she has time - saves me queing.
The heavier items I'd usually send Standard Parcel. Usually costs about £8 for 20 vinyls. This has been done away with and the replacement has rocketed to £16. What the fuck. I can see courier companies getting the business for the heavier parcels, even if it's a pain in the arse printing off labels and waiting on them coming to the door to collect them. Watch out for using 'airsure' as a means of insuring delivery - used to be £5 for EU countries which it states on the new forms - BUT - they add 1.99 VAT when you pay at the counter.
This added VAT surcharge is for all EU countries so it is completely misleadiung to state it is £5.00 I Had to go back to my customer and ask for another £2.5 which made me look like i was just robbing him having already asked for £9.50 - so cost now for 1xLP to EU countries with 'airsure' is now £12. As an aside, having had two seperate requests for insurance for broken records refused when I used 'airsure', I wonder what the point is. Apparantly, Royal Mail are now just denying all claims as standard practice - this from an employee (who'll remain nameless of course ) of this splendid company. My packaging was the 'Defender' crucifrom mailers, one layer of bubble and two stiffeners - still not good enough according to Royal mail.go figure!! Hopefully I've cracked it. A whole day of key'ing in combinations and making notes. Can anyone who's done the same thing let me know if there's something I'm missing or if I'm wrong?
UK standard 1-3 x 12' Vinyls - £3 3-10 x 12' Vinyls - £6.85 (£1.10 extra for recorded) Hermes (for larger orders) 2-5KG - £6.12 (Signed for) 5-10KG - £7.92 (Signed for) 10-15KG £10.32 (Signed for) Europe. UK standard 1-3 x 12' Vinyls - £3 3-10 x 12' Vinyls - £6.85 I went through my collection and found the 4 bulkiest/heaviest records (with sleeves) I could find, and weighted them with a mailer. I couldn't get anything over 980 grams. So I've gone with 1 - 4 x 12'.
Secondly, I suspect that many sellers (myself included) only have conventional envelope style mailers, so when you move upto the 2kg limit, the price and weight will include 2 mailers. I have gone with 5 - 8 x 12'. Infact, it is actually cheaper to send 2 x 1kg parcels than 1 x 2 kg parcel anyway. The bottomline is I'm quoting less than last year and the category changes will hopefully encourage buyers to purchase multiple items.