After being pleasantly surprised to find that smaller items could now be sent as large letters a month or so ago, I was told at the same post office today that only tracked items could be sent as a large letter abroad!
As I have sent three items as large letter untracked - as advised by the same post office - I am now very confused.
Has anyone else used the international large letter option for untracked items?
(I always include a customs form on the outside stating the contents, as I was previously told any item could be sent, so long as it fitted within the guide lines)
Sarah x
I have just printed 3 international large letters from the royal mail website, to Germany, Malta and Mauritius so I think your post office may be mistaken! 
So do I, as I have used the same local post office to post three similar items in the last month, but today they told me it is only for tracked items!
I think it depends on the value of the item and where it is going as to whether it can be sent untracked or not, if its under £20 it can go untracked, if its over £20 then it needs to go tracked (according to the royal mail website). We have previously seen discrepancies between what post office counters (the people who run the post offices) and royal mail (the people who deliver the post) say is correct and if you try a different post office you’ll probably get a different answer again.
Sasha
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I have been sending items untracked large letter overseas without any issues. The last couple of times the PO has asked the value of the package, so as Sasha has mentioned, there must be a value limit for untracked packages.
But the last three items I have sent as a large letter have all had a value of less than £10 - as stated on the customs label - as was the one I sent today, but although th value was only £7 I was told that unless it was tracked it would have to go as a small packet!
I too think your Post Office is mistaken @thesherbetpatch
I also think it is completely up to you, the customer of the Post Office, to decide how you send your parcels/large letters if the value is over £20. I am pretty sure that you are not obliged to send it tracked. It sounds like your Post Office has had some ‘in house’ training in order to get you to spend more money.
If you want to double check the pricing etc and you are on twitter, you can tweet @RoyalMail and they will confirm it for you. They’re really helpful :0)
Thankyou - I have just tweeted Royal Mail who have confirmed that items do not need to be sent tracked, but this is my local, very rural Post Office, and if they are adamant that they will not send things at international large letter rate it is going to be quite awkward.
I sent a large letter last week to America. Didn’t have to be tracked. I think some of the staff inside the Post Office’s make their own rules to be honest.
Had a problem with Hubby renewing his passport, he was told he needs his mum and dads passport numbers??? lol. Whatever. x
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It has nothing to do with your Post Office how you choose to send a parcel/letter. Even if the parcel/letter goes missing, it’s still nothing to do with the Post Office, it’s Royal Mail that you have to deal with.
It may be worth tweeting @PostOffice to let them know and they can speck to your rural Post office.
P.s. The Post Office which I use is very very rural and they allow me to send parcels/letters in anyway that I choose. My Post Master has advised me in the past, which I really appreciate, but he has never insisted that I have to post according to what he advises.
Print off the tweet from Royal Mail and take it with you to your post office. They can’t make you pay for tracking if you don’t want it.
You could always work out and print the postage online. It’s quite easy, you need to weight and measure it carefully and then you print out the label and stick it on the front. You can just pop the item in the post box to be sent and avoid them entirely. Unless it’s very large and then I believe you can just pass it over the counter for them. Might help?
I’ve got the info right in front of me and there is a International standard or a international tracked and signed. International standard large letter does not have to be signed for and is the cheapest option with up to £20 compensation, So no you don’t have to have it signed for.
Hope this helps
Claire
Also to add, this large letter international only came out a few months ago.
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I think Post Offices make up their own rules as well. My friend posted wedding invitations, all exactly the same. All the ones posted to the West Reading area got delivered fine, all of the ones in the East Reading were undelivered because Royal Mail said there wasn’t enough postage. I use my local post office and 90 % of my US orders are £3.15 and all have arrived OK. I happened to go to my main Post Office on one occasion and they wanted to charge me over £5.00 !!!
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It seems to be bit of a lottery.
And to make things worse, the lady in my local post office told me yesterday that the (large letter) item I posted last week should really have gone as a small parcel (it shouldn’t, being a £7 passport cover and well within the size limits) but it was okay because she smudged over the price on the postage label so it was illegible and no one would know!!!
So now I’ve got a parcel in transit to the US which has a tampered postage label on which I thought was probably not a legal thing for the post office to do!!!
Any chance you could use a different post office? That one is sounding like a bit of a liability.
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