Royal Mail customers left baffled over ‘ludicrous’ Post Office charge that ‘makes no sense’

ROYAL Mail customers have been left fuming after noticing they are being charged different prices depending on where they send a parcel from.

Sending a package via the Post Office costs more than having a postman collect it from your home.

If you buy tracked postage from the Royal Mail website using its Click And Drop service and opt to drop the package off at the Post Office, you’ll pay full price.

But have it collected from home – or drop it into a Post Box or Royal Mail Delivery Office – and you will get 20p off the cost.

For example, using the Royal Mail website to arrange a 48-hour tracked service for a 500g parcel would cost £3.39 if collected from home.

But it’s only £3.59 if dropped off at the Post Office or a Collect+ drop-off point.

Going to the Post Office and arranging postage from there would mean paying even more, as the same delivery service would cost £3.89.

Booking the 500g package for delivery online on the Royal Mail site using the 24-hour tracked service would cost £4.19 when collected from home, or £4.39 if left at the Post Office.

The Post Office counter charges £4.79 for the same postage.

Many users of the service say they are baffled by the price differences, especially when they would be paying the cost of travel to the Post Office.

One said on X, formerly Twitter: “Why is it you will send a van to my house to collect a parcel for free, but charge me 20p to drop it off at a Post Office? This makes no sense.”

Another added: “Are your prices set up correctly online? It charges me an extra 20p for myself to drop a parcel off at the post office? 

“But free if I post in a post box or free if you collect it? It seems a bit backwards to me?”

And another user called Daniel said: “Granted, I know it’s only 20p extra and I can’t even buy a toe on a Freddo for that these days, but still! 

“Paying for postage online at £4.19 and then taking the parcel to the post office yourself shouldn’t then incur a further fee for making the trip there yourself… “

And Michaelle P added: “I did online postage at home then dropped parcel off at the post office rather than have it collected.

“Later found out I’d been charged 20p for the privilege of dropping it off. They used my original payment method. Yes, a transaction for 20p. This is ludicrous “

But Royal Mail said the Post Office is not part of its network and the charge was to cover the cost of using the Post Office’s services.

It said in a statement: “We offer customers a wide range of services for dropping off parcels.

“This includes our own channels like Parcel Collect, Parcel Postboxes and Customer Service Points which are free services, and thurd party channels.

“The 20p covers the cost for a third party handling the item.”

The Post Office said its charges covered the cost of getting support from a postmaster.

A spokesman added: “When a customer drops off the parcel at the Post Office they are greeted by a friendly and knowledgeable Postmaster who will keep their package secure until it is collected [in this instance by Royal Mail] for onward delivery.

“Postmasters are pillars of their community – as I’m sure you would agree – they should and must be remunerated for handling packages. 

“Furthermore, a Postmaster running their branch means that a person can drop off their parcel or parcels for collection at their convenience and get on with the rest of their day, rather than waiting for Royal Mail to come and collect it (and may be running late, and therefore a person has to stay at home longer in order to wait for their parcel to be collected).

“And lastly, Postmasters are experts when it comes to the packaging and sending of parcels. So they can provide free advice – face to face – to a customer asking if they have considered using one of our other delivery partners in future – DPD or Evri – which may end up being cheaper or better suited than Royal Mail. 

“And so the individual receives expert advice about different delivery services that are available to them which will help them make savings when it comes to sending parcels. All of this can be done at your local Post Office.”