UK Resumes International Service, but Tracking and Delivery Speed Are Impacted

UK’s postal service Royal Mail is now accepting packages bound for foreign destinations, it announced on Friday, though it warned delivery might take longer than usual. The BBC has details on the January cyber attack that caused the disruption of all international mail in the UK (domestic UK service was not impacted).

Royal Mail provided an update on February 24 to let shippers know that Royal Mail International Export services had been reinstated to all destinations for purchase “online, through shipping solutions and over the counter at Post Office branches.”

However, it warned delivery of international items could take slightly longer than usual, and it was seeing an impact on tracking – which is crucial to online sellers to give visibility to buyers their packages are on the way. It noted that if tracking wasn’t available on the Royal Mail website, it could be available on the postal tracking websites of the destination country:

“Customers using International Tracked / International Tracked and Signed services may notice different tracking information as items leave the UK. We are seeing some delays to some Tracking events in a small number of destinations. As we continue to work with our partners to resolve this, if you cannot see tracking information for your items then it is likely to be available on the overseas’ Posts own tracking websites.”

Read the announcement and keep apprised on the Royal Mail service update page.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She’s a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of “Turn eBay Data Into Dollars” (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, “Blogging Heroes” (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 – present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 – present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.