Hey creative business owners, we wanted to share with you what we found out about posting your products during the lockdown!
Royal Mail and many other delivery companies are being amazing, but you have to find what works for you – and it is advisable to limit the contact you have with the Post Office and stay home as much as possible, to stop the spread of Covid as much as we can.
Many of our stallholders have been asking how they can minimise trips to the post office with products, especially in light of recent Royal Mail changes. We’ve put together some ideas for your postage and keeping sales flowing online.
Royal Mail Changes
Royal Mail have made several changes to the way they operate given the Coronavirus outbreak, including posting and delivery times. You can keep up to date with them here: https://www.royalmail.com/termschanges.
Clear Messaging
Ensure your online shop and/or website has a clear message about postage and that delivery times might be extended in accordance with the government’s current advice and regulations. You could add this to your ‘about’ section, pop it on a photo banner – whatever best gets the message across.
Direct Posting
Consider posting your products directly into a post box. You can order stamps via the Post Office online service. Use the price finder to double-check costs to ensure that you don’t under-stamp your items and have issues upon delivery. This is a great way to have as little contact as possible. Find out more here: https://www.postoffice.co.uk/price-finder
notelets & packaging
Signed For Posting
The signed for option is still available but the act of signing isn’t happening right now due to social distancing rules. However, you can still use the service and get delivery confirmation (and additional insurance cover), it just won’t be physically signed for at the point of delivery. Compensation is £50 signed, only £20 for standard. These items still require you to go into the post office to deliver although the service can be paid for online.
Drop and Go
For regular post office users, you could get a Post Office payment card and put some money on it, and then use the Drop and Go service.
Wrap up your items as normal and write the recipient’s address, then print off a ‘Drop and Go’ manifest and complete the form for all of your parcels at home. Find out more here: https://www.postoffice.co.uk/dam/pdf/drop-and-go-manifest.pdf
Drop off your parcels with the manifest attached, and the Post Office will process the parcels and take payment from your card without you needing to be present, within 24 hours. This enables a super-speedy visit to the Post Office, and limits contact effectively.
Click and Drop
Access the Royal Mail website (https://www.royalmail.com/) and complete all of your postage online. Print off the pre-paid labels and attach them to your parcel, then simply drop it off at your nearest Post Office OR a larger post box (those that have the pull down door on them- usually found near sorting offices). Find out more at: https://parcel.royalmail.com/
Parcels 2 Go
This is the largest comparison courier service site. It’s great and comes recommended by many of our stallholders: https://www.parcel2go.com – simply type in the size and weight of your parcel and they’ll give you all the options.
If you’re wondering how to minimise trips to the post office with products that are larger, Hermes seems to be a great price for larger items too.
Etsy Printing Labels
Did you know that you can print off labels through the Etsy website? You can merge your post office and Etsy accounts so when a purchase is made you simply print it off, and then if the item is small enough you can post it through your nearest Royal Mail letterbox.
Just be mindful that Etsy’s overseas labels haven’t been working recently and they haven’t yet responded to confirm when this will be fixed.
We hope you find this information useful. Happy posting!