To think Royal Mail are a rip off?

[CrohnicallyEarly]

Wanted to post a parcel today. I looked up the sizes and weights online, cut a box to the size of a small parcel and packaged my items up. Then I weighed the parcel.

If it had been under 2kg, I could have posted it for £4. Unfortunately it was a little over, so it can’t be classed as a ‘small parcel’ and it was going to cost more like £15. What a jump in price!

I could split it, put 2kg in a parcel for £4 and put the rest in a padded envelope for £2, but that’s a faff seeing as I’ve already packaged everything securely. So instead one of the other parcel sites will be getting my custom.

AIBU to think that from £4 to £15 for the sake of a few hundred grams is a huge increase, and there should be more of a sliding scale?

Royal Mail aren't all that interested in parcels. Try Parcelforce or a courier company.

So use a different courier.

I had the same yesterday, a parcel 36 x 36 cm and just over 2kg, cost was £12. My lovely little local post office directed me to DHL instead and it cost £5.80.

Royal Mail aren't really for parcels, that's why they have a separate company called Parcelforce for parcels. I don't think they're going to be that bothered you used a different business.

You could take it there your self

far2go it would probably cost me less than £15 in petrol costs!

Parcelforce came up at a similar cost- their prices appear on the Royal Mail postage finder.

I know they’re not going to be bothered about losing me as a customer, but if even post offices are directing customers to alternative couriers (as villanelle found) then it’s bound to have an effect.

Royal Mail is really for letters and large letters as lots is delivered by foot; larger parcels need delivering by a van which is why the price shots up over 2kg as it is not feasible for them to be carried in a mail bag
parcelforce is much cheaper via parcel2go (£8.70) etc and you can still drop it at local post office and it is picked up by the van but you need a printer
once over 2kg the cheapest depends on where you live for me it is hermes( you can print label in shop if you don't have a printer) which is £6.49 for anything between 2-10kg
"inpost" and collect+ are cheaper but not close to me about 5.80
which courier to use depends on which ones have convenient drop off places near you eg I don't use DHL as nearest point is 16 miles away

I used Hermes to send a large parcel a few weeks ago, which weighed 4kg. Sent it fully tracked with signature on delivery for about £8. It was the first time I had used them and had no problems at all. Far cheaper than RM /Parcel force.

Ironically our post office said parcel force are usually just as expensive, they said try iparcel which is DHL or Hermes are always the cheapest but Hermes hasn’t got the best customer care.

Royal Mail are the last Bly company I can think of who advertise a service (posting shit) and when you go to use said service (post something), tell you that the service you are paying for probably won't get your item there, and that you should use another service (signed for) three times the price.

Pisses me right off every time.

Funny how royal mail are one of the more expensive ones yet they have someone walk past every house in the country every day (near enough). Actually you are all wrong, royal mail are gearing towards parcel deliveries as paper mail doesn't really get them any money, and is in fact declining, while parcel delivery is a bigger income and thanks to online shopping, has grown exponentially for the past few years, and will continue to do so

Oh and just to add, most people think postie's work for the post office, they don't. The post office and royal mail are 2 very different companies who simply work together, postie's work for royal mail, when you go in store to send a parcel, you are doing so through the post office, who use royal mail

Royal Mail has just lost one of my parcels, was returning some clothes I bought online and took it to my local post office, now it’s been lost. Won’t go with them again!

The Royal Mail are fucking shit. I've just renewed my passport online. The only delay was my old passport. I posted it first class, and it took over 2 weeks to get there.
There being about 45 miles from where I live

@DJ they need to be be more competitive with their pricing to be able to compete.