Sending parcels in the UK.

[Justmuddlingalong]

I know it's weeks away, but I've just spent the afternoon wrapping presents that need to be sent to family here in Scotland. Does anybody have advice about sending via courier as I've never done it before? I presume royal mail prices will be expensive, so any suggestions would be much appreciated. TIA.

I would think royal mail would be cheaper that a courier. Royal Mail have a table on their website to calculate postage.

The post offices also offer parcel force if cheaper for certain size packages.

I'm sending 3kg to London from Edinburgh. Would have been £9 by Parcelforce, £3.99 Hermes. I paid online and dropped it off at the corner shop. They printed out the label for me. I could have sent up to 5kg for that price. I know Hermes is not the most reliable at delivering but it usually gets there. I've never had a Hermes parcel go missing.

parcel2go is a website that will give you the best prices for each courier service available. i use it all the time os its totally legit

Well I spent £11 but it was next day and signed for, for me well worth it as had presents in and tokens. They got next day,

@OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack

parcel2go is a website that will give you the best prices for each courier service available. i use it all the time os its totally legit

I was going to suggest parcel2go!

Parcelmonkey also good. 10% back on TopCashback with Parcel2Go.

I work for DHL. We are expensive but it's a next working day service. You can book us through parcelmonkey (I think), parcel2go and DHLitNow. (Or by dropping it into a service point. I think they'll all be slightly different prices too due to how they are billed by us, so shop around.

Cheers all. I've got 2 parcels going to the same town, so I'll check the comparison sites and see the price difference if I send them both to the same address, rather than separately. Then my DB can collect theirs on his way home from work. Thanks again for the help. 🤶

Anyone got any advice for sending parcel to my DD who won't be home (probably). She works shifts as a nurse, lives in a flat and there's no one to take it in. If they just dump it in the lobby it will be stolen.

I'm reluctant to just send Royal Mail because so much stuff seems to not arrive. If I send it tracked/signed for what happens when she is never in?

DHL offer delivery to a parcel shop I think.

I use them because Hermes are shocking and every parcel I've sent has been damaged in some way.

Ive posted parcels via royal mail with no issues every year.

Tip if its going to the same address is to post as a consignment and its a lot cheaper. It only 'counts' as one large parcel iirc

@FredtheFerret

Anyone got any advice for sending parcel to my DD who won't be home (probably). She works shifts as a nurse, lives in a flat and there's no one to take it in. If they just dump it in the lobby it will be stolen.

I'm reluctant to just send Royal Mail because so much stuff seems to not arrive. If I send it tracked/signed for what happens when she is never in?

Send it signed for and they'll take it back to her local sorting office to pick up within 2 weeks.

Royal Mail is not expensive IME. How big or heavy are the gifts OP?

As an example, a small parcel sent second class is £3.10 - something the size of a shoebox (actually as bit bigger) and weighing under 2kg I think (which is pretty heavy).

As an example I have posted a pair of football boots for this rate.

This assumes nothing of great value that you need to have tracked.

Hermes is cheaper than royal mail and they will pick up from your house

Royal Mail is cheap until you go over 2kg then it's gets silly money compared to couriers. Second parcel2go, lots of courier options.

You can have delivered to local shops for collection (collect+ service) @FredtheFerret

We've been using Hermes, ever since we tried to send a box of clothes for our niece that Royal Mail wanted to charge £16 for. For small parcels they're about the same I think, but Hermes are much cheaper once they get big or heavy. I pay the little extra to have them collected from the house as well (our Hermes man delivered so many parcels to us this year I feel responsible for maintaining his income stream 😂).

Thanks, guys! I'll try that. I want to send her a Christmas stocking full of small individually wrapped gifts, so I'll need to send in a cardboard box I think. Just don't want to think of her having nothing to open at Christmas. Bad enough that we won't see her this year!

I love Parcel Monkey. Just sent a 5kg parcel to Sweden for £17 so for sending around England would imagine it would be cheap as chips. I enquired about sending it via the post office/parcelforce and they quoted me £53.

I only trust DPD, absolutely not Hermes, they've "lost" large parcels of mine before (how do you lose stuff that size?!)

DPD local will pick up from your house dpdlocal-online.co.uk