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As a self-confessed eBay obsessive (and newly reformed fast fashion addict), the news that the Royal Mail now offer a pick-up-a-parcel service is music to my ears. As any online shopper (or seller) will know, the hours you spend in the post office queue, shipping off whatever is is you’ve flogged for money (my soul, at this point?) to go in your ‘house deposit fund’, or to send back returns, quickly mount up.
The snazzy new service rolled out across the nation yesterday, after a successful trial was previously completed in the west of England. It’s called ‘Parcel Collect’ (nice and to the point) and there will be a 72p charge per parcel, plus any postage costs. If you’re looking to use the service to send a load of loungewear back following a major pay day splurge, pre-paid return packages (like those offered by ASOS, PLT and Missguided) can be collected for 60p.
Said parcels can weigh up to 20kg and can be a roughly twice the size of a standard aeroplane hand luggage bag (61cm by 46cm by 46cm) – so a decent size, in other words. The service will be on offer six days a week (Monday to Saturday).
So, you’re probably wondering how the whole thing works? Luckily it all sounds fairly straightforward (but, disclaimer, I’ve not yet tried it). Anyone interested simply needs to book the service in either online or through the Royal Mail app – this can be done from five days in advance right up to midnight the day before you want the parcel collecting.
You’ll need to ensure your postage has already been paid for, have the labels printed off and stuck on, then leave the package either in a designated safe space, or your postie will collect it from your door during their daily round. Also side note: this could be a very cute way to get to know your local postman or postwoman? You know how in black and white movies everybody’s always saying hello to whoever it is delivering their mail? Yeah, don’t get that anymore really, do you…
It’s a pretty smart move from the Royal Mail, who is thought to have made the move in an effort to keep up with the boom in online shopping.
Anybody else now wondering how to spend all those extra hours that’ll be freed up from not having to queue?
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