Royal Mail starts parcel collection from home for 72p per package

The parcels can weigh up to 20kg and can be a little over twice the size of most airplane hand luggage
PA
Luke O'Reilly21 October 2020

Royal Mail will today start collecting parcels from doorsteps for the first time.

For a fee of 72p, on top of standard postage, postal workers will collect up to five items per customer per day between Monday and Saturday

The parcels can weigh up to 20kg and can be a little over twice the size of most airplane hand luggage (61cm by 46cm by 46cm).

The postal service, privatised in 2013, has struggled as businesses move away from letters to emails.

It comes after the Royal Mail launched parcel boxes 
PA

The coronavirus pandemic has also affected letter volume, with 1 billion less letters being sent in the five months leading up to August.

However, Royal Mail's revenue still rose £139m during the same period due to an increase in parcel deliveries. Postal workers continued to deliver letters and parcels throughout lockdown.

Prior to the pandemic, the company had already tried to maximise its presence in the booming parcel market, launching parcel post boxes last year.

The move to doorstep collection was hailed by the postal service as “one of the biggest changes to the daily delivery since the launch of the post box in 1852”.

The company has been testing its system in the west of England, but will now roll it out nationwide.

Royak Mail workers delivered letters and parcels throughout lockdown
PA

“Royal Mail Parcel Collect is a fantastic step forward for all of our customers. It makes it easier to use our services than ever before,” said Royal Mail chief commercial officer Nick Landon.

Claire Roebuck-Sacks, a customer from Bristol who has used the service during testing, said: “I used Royal Mail’s Parcel Collect during the initial roll-out of the service in Bristol.

“The service was really easy to use, and it was a convenient way to send a gift to my aunt, particularly as I have a new baby, so time is precious.”

Pre-paid return packages can be collected for 60p per item.

Returns have become an increasingly important market for the postal system in recent years, as online shoppers want the chance to change the items they bought.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in