Why do people still bother with Royal Mail?
Above question, when there are so many other better options out there: DHL, UPS, DPD, FBA, etc, etc…
It is a genuine question that I really want to know. We have taken multiple steps over the years to cut down reliance on Royal Mail, and what’s left is really just the cheap options like RM24. Even the RM24 costs higher than the fulfilment fees by Amazon, so we are cutting down on that too.
Royal Mail has been consistently the least reliable among all our shipping vendors for the past few years. For goodness sake, they were still relying on “PEN & PAPER” for customers to indicate their collection preference during Xmas period. Pen and paper! In 2021!.. And guess what, the driver lost my paper facepalm, so they sent me a new paper form to fill in and hand back to the driver, and hey, they still ended up getting my dates wrong double facepalm. I would have been raging if I were relying on them for important mails.
Observations over the past 2 days just reaffirm the above view point. All other shipping vendors collected their sacks without any issue or whatsoever. The only ones left are just the Royal Mail sacks, sitting alone at a corner, unsure if the driver will even turn up today (Wednesday). As per usual, no communication or whatsoever, other than a generic email mass sent out on Tuesday. My collection location is based in central London, so infrastructure wise is pretty straightforward, but I guess it was still a problem for Royal Mail…
But rant aside, ultimately Royal Mail is still generating massive profits, so I am guessing they must have gotten something right. So why do people still bother to use Royal Mail? Care to share what are they good for?
Especially for Amazon sellers, why is Royal Mail better than FBA?
131 replies
Seller_NoMNQDGnEW5Bx
Is there a better / cheaper option for letters and large letters though?
Seller_8Wsckn3UoR095
For letter & large letters… No one else competes.
We’re all Amazon sellers. We don’t use SFP so I can’t comment there for RM24. Not everything is suitable for FBA or worth it.
Seller_7VbclcPFFRTnc
We have used RM for over 14 years with no issues other than the very rare lost item
I’ve not encountered the problems at Christmas and all my post was collected over the last 2 days
And even amazon use RM for S&L
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
I send mostly letters, so there are no alternatives to Royal Mail.
Not every product is suitable for FBA (I sell some customised/personalised items) though I am starting to move that way, not because I dislike Royal Mail but because I am getting to a point where I am struggling to cope with all the orders on my own, and my options are hire staff or offload some of the workload to Amazon… I am choosing the latter.
Honestly I don’t have a problem with them, I send out about 1,000 orders a month, I have a loss of about 0.5% and Royal Mail will give me back my postage and cost of the item without hesitation or question. They come every day and collect, on time, they are always polite.
They are also one of the few couriers that realise Northern Ireland is part of the UK 
Seller_ANpkhFl1uuWCA
Personally, I’ve used Royal Mail for my own business for 12+ years and also under my previous employment with our family business running an online store and selling through eBay.
On average 800-1000 orders go every month, ranging from letter, large letter, and tracked 24 / 48 across all postal formats with the occasional Special Delivery.
Until Monday, I have received nothing less than excellent service and only deal with about half a dozen ‘lost orders’ every month that just so happen to be the ‘non tracked’ letters / large letters. How genuinely lost they are, who knows!?
The worst service I received like many others was on Monday, no collection, no e-mail, no telephone call, and the local sorting office were no help whatsoever with reduced opening hours.
However, I do wonder if Royal Mail is unfairly judged at times, given the high volumes of post they deal with on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong the service on Monday was truly dreadful for the people with late collections.
I dropped in all my post to the local sorting office yesterday, all tracked 24 and specials are being delivered today and even one special delivery made it to Northern Ireland in time to be delivered today to protect my metrics.
Seller_uZmYgk2Q734Ed
Gathering from the feedback, I can see where Royal Mail can come in to fulfil some logistics needs.
60-70% of our sales go to outside of UK (to US, Europe, etc), so that might explain why our experience with RM is worse than some other sellers.
International shipments with Royal Mail is downright horrible. The vendor we switched to offer faster and more reliable services, at a cheaper rate. So it was a no brainer for us to make the switch.
I see the picture better now. Thanks all for the feedback
Seller_2Zn4LKv3YOnlV
I’ve used Royal Mail since the start for this business, and they were the primary carrier for the online division of my former employer - the two together spanning 14 years or so.
I’ve found theirs to be the most reliable and consistent service, which covers the whole of the UK at the same cost. I currently send everything using either 1st or 2nd class signed for (99% small parcels under 1kg), and urgent orders are sent special delivery. I factor the costs into my product prices. I find that most customers are happy with Royal Mail as a carrier, and particularly in rural areas parcels get delivered without any “cant find the house” problems because the posties know exactly where everyone lives and where every house is.
If a customer is out it’s usually not too difficult for them to get to their local DO to collect a parcel and they can collect at weekends (and in some places in the evenings and early mornings) - my nearest DPD and Fedex depots are next door to each other, and a 60 mile round trip away.
I’ve never had a claim for a lost parcel refused and whilst I have had three or four special delivery parcels miss their next day delivery date during the pandemic, Royal Mail paid out without a fuss each time,
My local depot are very supportive and phoned me (and I’m sure a whole load of other customers) on Monday and Tuesday to let me know when the last pick ups would be, and were happy to take my other parcels in directly at the depot yesterday evening.
My products are fragile and due to my excellent packing and Royal Mail’s handling I have almost no breakages in transit - I don’t feel confident that Amazon would handle my products as well - and any returns would have to come back to me to be checked and repacked, which adds another layer of cost that for me makes FBA an expensive option.
Seller_GTQV2zDar8YQQ
I have used Royal Mail for 17 years .
I use them because they can delivery my products to my customers anywhere in the UK, mostly within 24 hours .
Lost mail & damaged products are very rare thank goodness .
.
Seller_0Amk0hnQkPWMH
If all your stuff is sent MFN Large Letter UK only (as mine all are) then no one can compete with RM. Simples.
Seller_rv8HvOWVigeUM
i get an excellent rate for my volume from royal mail (oba) and my tracking rate hovers around the 99.+ range
im happy
