Royal Mail announces major changes to opening hours, deliveries, tracking items and more

Extended opening hours are about to come into effect and changes to the handling of deliveries, Royal Mail has confirmed.

Customer Service Points in local Royal Mail delivery offices will be increasing their opening hours on Saturdays, starting on Saturday (June 27).

These Points will continue to be open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, as well as Saturdays. But they will all be closed on Wednesdays and Sundays, Cambridge Live reports.

Specific opening hours will differ between branches and Royal Mail advises you to check their website to be sure.

Saturday deliveries were suspended to protect staff amid the coronavirus crisis, but Royal Mail recently announced they would be restarting.

And there are already a number of other changes to deliveries.

Royal Mail will keep your item for longer

Retention periods will be longer at Customer Service Points.

This means Royal Mail will keep items for 30 calendar days before they are returned to the sender.

The change is to help customers who may not be able to leave the house to collect their items.

It applies to the following items:

• Items with a ‘Something for You’ card
• Items that have a ‘Surcharge to Pay’
• Items that have a ‘Customs Charge to Pay’
• Local Collect items where the parcel is addressed to the Customer Service Point

Changes to Special Delivery Guaranteed

Items out for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am will be delivered by 12pm the same day.

And items out for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm will now be delivered by 9pm that day.

Signing for and receiving items

Royal Mail staff will not hand over devices for signatures on tracked parcels that need signing for.

They will instead record the name of the person accepting the item.

For items that won’t fit through the letterbox, staff will place your item on your doorstep.

After knocking on your door, they will then step away to a safe distance while you pick up your item.

These measures are to maintain social distancing and keep both Royal Mail staff and customers safe.

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