If like myself you send all orders via Royal Mail Signed For service check your postage costs against their new increases from 01.10.2023. Due to a very small minority of the public claiming they don’t receive goods ordered from businesses I have no choice but send all orders this way to protect myself!
It has just cost me £4.20 to send a small hand knitted baby cardigan! Don’t forget it is calculated on item size and weight. A baby bobble hat with a large full woolly bobble may not go through their large letter size gauge therefore you will be charged for their small parcel size!
Royal Mail are killing small businesses. No way can I afford to offer free delivery either.
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It would be worth you investigating Royal Mail tracked 24 or tracked 48 services, they often work out cheaper than the signed for equivalent, have a higher insurance threshold (£150 with tracked24/48 vs £50 with signed for) and you still get delivery confirmation (and full tracking).
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Just to echo Sasha’s comment, I use Tracked 24 or 48 all the time now. If you want to, you can also add a signature although I rarely bother with that myself.
When buying the service on click and drop, they do also add 16p per item for the post office dealing with your package.
The price for a small package, which is anything too big for large letter depth of 2.5cm / 1 inch…is the same for all weights right up to 2kg. And that applies to both 2nd and 1st class nowadays. This can make it quite cheap if you are sending several things at once.
Hi Sasha
I will ask about that the next time I have an order to go out. I don’t know about that option.
Regards
Gail
Hi Debbie
My post office is just at the top of my culdisac about 500 metres so ideal for me as I am disabled .
Regards
Gail
Hi Joy
Thanks for that information.
Regards
Gail
Demelza Designs
As far as I understand it, Tracked 24 and 48 are only available direct from Royal Mail online, it is not a service you can buy at the post office, although you can drop them off there. It also does not cover jewellery.
Track 24 / 48 need to be purchased online but the postie can collect them from your house (currently free, you book collection after you’ve purchased the postage), they can also bring you the label if you don’t have a printer. They can be dropped off at the post office but there is a charge for that.
That’s out the window for me then!
I always use Special Delivery Next Working Day for jewellery over £50.00 and that is really expensive but items are fully insured against loss during transit. A bracelet posted last week was just under £8.00 for delivery. The customer was only charged £3.85 because I worry they will not buy if the actual postage is charged. It’s so difficult playing the balancing game, especially due to the economic climate at the moment.
Hi Sasha
Debra has just told me that. Thanks for helping come up with some suggestions. Charging the actual costs is so difficult especially on cheaper items.
Its just cost me £2 to send a large letter first class the thingvis their letterboxes are half the size of a normal front door letterbox and thay say it wont go through …well it wont if yours is half the size of a normal letter box lol its just rediculas im thinking of going else where to send mine x
The large letter size isn’t based on an actual letterbox I don’t think - you can buy the post office measuring gauge to check whether your items will fit or not - definitely worth it if you send lots of large letter items! I have a feeling the courier companies use the same sizing brackets but if you go to a price comparison website you can probably find a cheaper way of sending things.
I’ve mostly found that if people really want an item they are prepared to pay the actual cost of postage - most buyers at least in the UK are pretty aware of how much it now costs!
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The large letter depth is specified as 2.5cm or 1 inch and that is the size of the RM slot tester.
“Large Letters not exceeding:
Length: 35.3cm Width: 25cm Thickness up to
and including: 2.5cm Weight limit: 750g”
Cheapest ist class large letter up to 100g is £1.95.
See :
https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2023-09/our-prices-october-2023-ta.pdf
I DO always use a PIP postage box for my large letter items …this makes sure that the actual package size is restrained within the RM sizing limits. They are not expensive and well worth it if it avoids accidentally having to pay for small package if you large letter becomes a bit fat. I allow for the cost in my large letter charge.
Thank you joysofglass iv downloaded this to print out so i can refere back to it
I always keep mine on my laptop desktop 
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Comparison Web sites will not handle jewellery.
I agree, but not all have any idea of actual postage costs if they don’t send post regularly, my own son who is over 40 included. He had a shock when sending a large letter the other day! So many people communicate via social media, phone or via text and emails.
It’s so hard for a small business to get it right, isn’t it! And yes, £2 for a large letter is a bit of a shocker, I agree, mentally I still think it should be 50p or something. (Mind you I still think a bed and breakfast should be £10 a night so perhaps I’m just getting old 
)
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