French postal strike 23rd September

September 22, 2008

French unions representing postal workers have called a one day strike for tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd September. They are protesting against planned changes by La Poste which they say will mean the privatisation of the postal service and could lead to the loss of up to 300,000 jobs, more than 50% of La Poste’s workforce.

Turnout for postal strikes is traditionally very low - around 20% - but inevitably there will be delays in the days that follow, so if you have French customers waiting for parcels, it’s something to bear in mind.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News | Comments Off 

Royal Mail announce 2008 pricing

December 20, 2007

This post was written in December 2007; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

Royal Mail have just announced their new prices for 2008/2009, which is not likely to be good news for anyone. First and second class letters go up to 36p and 27p respectively; Recorded Delivery will be 74p and Special Delivery will start from £4.60.

Perhaps more likely to affect eBay sellers are the Large Letter and Packet tariffs, which are both up: for the popular 100g-250g tranche, prices will increase to 78p and £1.45 respectively. On the heavier end of the scale, packets between 2kg and 4kg will now be £8.22, or £6.85 via Standard Parcels.

For those spending less than £15,000 on post annually, collections leap in price to £450 per annum, though they will remain free for those spending more than £15k. There are discounts for businesses with accounts on most of the RM tariff, so if you are sending more than the odd packet here and there, it’s certainly worth visiting the postal MOT centre and seeing where you could save.

The full tariff can be read in pdf format on Royal Mail’s website.

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | 6 Comments