Royal Mail introduces ‘sneaky’ new pick-up charge leaving customers FUMING

ROYAL Mail customers have blasted the company for charging a 30p fee to collect parcels from homes.

The company said the previously free collection service had been a promotional period which has now ended after several years.

AlamyBut senders can avoid the fee by dropping parcels off at Post Offices, postboxes or post lockers for free[/caption]

In 2020, the cost was 72p per parcel, but the charge was dropped in March 2021 to encourage people to use the service.

The reintroduced levy – which came in on May 1 – has caused a frustrated backlash from customers, particularly small business owners and eBay sellers who rely on doorstep collections.

The charge is applied when you arrange home collections on royalmail.com, and is added on top of the cost of postage, which can be bought either from Royal Mail directly or a marketplace site like eBay.co.uk.

But senders can avoid the fee by dropping parcels off at Post Offices, postboxes or post lockers for free.

One frequent parcel-sender said on X (formerly Twitter): “Not sure who thought it was a good idea to charge 30p for collections. Shame as I really enjoyed the interaction with the postman. I guess I’ll be taking them to the PO (Post Office) again from here on out.”

Another added: “When did you sneakily add a 30p collection charge onto collected items from home?

“Don’t recall seeing anything about it or in app alert.”

Another user wrote on social media site Reddit: “It’s 30p per time which is going to cripple the small business I run, as postage costs are already calculated by the online marketplace I (have) to sell through.”

Royal Mail said: “After a promotional period, we’re now reintroducing a 30p charge to our Parcel Collect service.

“Parcel Collect makes it easy to send and return items straight from your doorstep.

“Customers also have thousands of free options with our expanding network of lockers, parcel shops and the option to send small packages via our 115,000 postboxes – giving them more choice than ever.”

It comes after the secondhand site eBay controversially made its “Simple Delivery” system mandatory for private sellers, with only letter-sized items exempt.

Under the system, eBay recommends the size and weight of the item being sold and the seller will need to confirm this information is correct before they post it.

Once an item is sold, the seller will receive a printer-less QR code and prepaid printable label, either of which can be used to arrange delivery.

The seller then has to take the item to their nearest carrier location or can book a home collection, depending on what’s easiest.

But the 30p fee on the Royal Mail website will be charged separately from the postage cost, meaning it will dent trading profits.

Ebay says the Simple Delivery service can save sellers 20 per cent on postage costs.

What else is happening at Royal Mail?

Royal Mail hiked the price of stamps last month – leaving many households furious.

On April 7, the cost of a first-class stamp went up by 5p, now costing £1.70. Second-class stamps rose by 2p to 87p.

It didn’t stop there either — larger items were hit by even steeper price hikes.

Posting a first-class large letter up to 100g now costs £3.15, up from £2.60.

And first-class small parcels weighing up to 2kg rose from £4.79 to £4.99, while second-class jumped from £3.75 to £3.90.

Signed-for deliveries have also become more expensive.

Royal Mail has also announced a significant update to its iconic red postboxes.

The company has introduced new solar-powered digital postboxes, designed with a larger posting slot to accommodate small parcels more easily.

This is the first time postboxes have larger slots.

To use the digital postboxes, customers need to scan a barcode on their parcel and a drawer will automatically open for them to drop it in.

They can then request proof of postage using the Royal Mail app.

The app update uses 4G and your phone’s location services — all customers have to do is tap ‘services’ on the home screen, go to ‘proof of posting’, and follow the steps.

It marks the biggest change to postbox design in over 175 years — and many will hate it.