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Summary
- Royal Mail’s parcel collect service is one of the biggest structural changes in its history
- With the latest offering from Royal Mail, people can utilise the parcel collect service to schedule a home pick-up for the parcel by visiting the Royal Mail website
- Royal Mail shares have nearly doubled the investors’ wealth from the bottom made on 3 April
Royal Mail Plc (LON: RMG), the London-headquartered postal service and parcel firm, has launched a new array of services under which the UK’s biggest mail delivery provider will pick-up parcels from the doorstep of your home. Royal Mail shares have been on a rising streak since Monday this week amassing a gain of more than 3 per cent in the three days with the launch of doorstep parcel pick-up service. Royal Mail share price has zoomed as much as 4.5 per cent to GBX 250.30 on 22 October 2020 at 11:48 AM GMT+1 from the market price of GBX 239.60 at the end of Monday, 19 October 2020.
Royal Mail shares had shown a subdued performance over a major period since it went public in 2013 on London Stock Exchange. Since its listing on the bourse, Royal Mail has nearly lost 44 per cent of its market capitalisation.
Stock Performance (YTD): Royal Mail Plc
(Source: Thomson Reuters)
However, Royal Mail shares have made a speedy recovery after touching a closing low of GBX 124.30 on 3 April 2020 following the Covid-19-led distress across the nation and a nearly-freezed demand for services. Interestingly, Royal Mail shares have nearly doubled the investors’ wealth from the bottom made on 3 April with the share price rallying over 98 per cent to GBX 246.20 as on 21 October 2020, when it announced its historic decision.
Royal Mail ‘Parcel Collect’
The decision of the doorstep pick-up service for parcels has been duly taken considering the present conditions prevailing in the market due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with a large section of people shifting to online mediums for their shopping needs, ordering food and buying goods. This has been one of the biggest structural changes with the Royal Mail due to a steep decline in the number of letters delivered.
Parcel Collect Booking & Charges
With the latest offering from Royal Mail, people can utilise the parcel collect service to schedule a home pick-up for the parcel by visiting the Royal Mail website and entering the details of the pick-up. According to Royal Mail, the parcel collect services will soon be available on the Royal Mail mobile application. All the collections can be booked via the click & drop portal of Royal Mail, after successful completion of the account registration and acceptance of terms & conditions.
An individual can make a booking for doorstep parcel collect in advance for up to five days; also Royal Mail has enabled the users to select the day of collection. Bookings for the doorstep parcel collection can be made between the slots of two and four hours.
Customers opting for the doorstep parcel pick-up service or the ‘parcel collect’ service from home are required to pay a nominal fee of 72p over and above the standard postage charges, while a fee of 60p will be charged for every pre-paid return. All the applicable payments are required to be completed in advance; Royal Mail would charge a value added tax (VAT) in addition to the relevant fee.
Royal Mail’s click & drop service is integrated with the most popular online stores including ebay, Amazon, Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce, Not On The High Street, Etsy and OnBuy.com. Royal Mail has allowed easy payments with credit, debit cards, PayPal or the online business account.
Basic Guidelines
Customers can book for a maximum of five parcels per day from Monday to Saturday with a per parcel weight of up to 20 kg. As per the guidelines issued by Royal Mail, the maximum permissible dimension for the parcels is 61cm x 46cm x 46cm. The limit of the weight and capacity of the item is dependent on the product, while the customers will be held responsible for ensuring that the weight and capacity does not exceed the maximum values.
The parcels scheduled for doorstep pick-ups will be only collected on the working days. Royal Mail will collect the parcels from the mentioned collection points only. The collection point may change to a nominated location on the sole discretion of the company. The confirmation of a collection window will be provided to the customers after the completion of booking, wherever possible.
Refund Rules and Prohibited Items
All the users are entitled to claim a refund for the collection fee (excluding the postage charges), if in case the Royal Mail staff is unable to collect the items scheduled for doorstep pick-up from the collection point.
Royal Mail has advised all the users to not send any prohibited material such as alcohol, ammunition, batteries, Christmas crackers, explosives, counterfeit currency, controlled drugs, e-cigarettes, flammable substance, lighters, paints, toxic substances, sharp objectives, vaccines, weapons or waste etc. via the doorstep parcel pick-up service. Further, the Royal Mail’s doorstep parcel pick-up service can’t be used to return Covid-19 home test kits.
To sum up, Royal Mail Plc has been making all efforts to revive its fortune, the latest offering of the doorstep parcel collection is intended to corner a bigger share of the growing parcel market. The numbers of letters delivered have been on a decline with the emails in widespread use. The company has witnessed almost 33 per cent drop in letters delivered this year and has been concentrating on parcel market. Last year it had launched parcel post boxes. Recently it was reported that the company is also seeking a major UK Virus home testing program contract from the government.
