forwarding

is completely free, all you pay is postage

forwarding intervals

control your own account preferences

Use your secure controls to tell us whether to forward your mail on to you Daily,  Weekly or Monthly,  and when to send by Royal Mail, Signed-for,  or by Private Courier.   You can also request a forwarding on Demand  and your mail will be despatched within 24 hours,  without affecting your normal schedule,  (even if your account is otherwise set to Hold).

Similarly,  if you have a Demand despatch sent using a different service,  your normal sending instructions remain unchanged.   In all cases,  your mail is consolidated into a tamper proof postal bag and the postage cost is debited from your Postage Fund.

Please note:   Our system produces postage labels with EXACTLY the content and layout that you enter as the 'forwarding address' in your account control panel,  so remember to including a recipient's name,  if one is required.

forwarding options

some of the most common postal choices available

Standard forwarding within the UK is by Royal Mail 1st Class,  over 90% of which is delivered the next day,  including Saturdays.   The Royal Mail's Signed-for  ('Recorded')  service offers the same performance but also provides you with tracking and proof of delivery.   At around £1.00 extra in postage,  it competes very well with low-cost domestic courier firms such as Hermes or Yodel.

If you request your mail to be forwarded on any tracked service,  our system will send you an email with the carrier's reference number and a direct link to their on-line tracking facility,  so that you can follow its progress.

For really urgent items,  Royal Mail's Special Delivery guarantees next day delivery by 1pm,  but is more costly and is only available to addresses within the UK.   All three of these delivery options can be applied to items up to the 'Medium Parcel' format,  see our handy mail size & weight guide.

forwarding abroad

royal mail or international courier?

Royal Mail are generally the cheapest for forwarding mail abroad, and so their International Standard or International Signed-for & Tracked services are usually the first choice for despatches up to 2Kg.   Final delivery,  however,  is carried out by the domestic postal service in the destination country.   Whilst in most countries this doesn't represent a significant risk,  where the local postal service may be slow,  unreliable or insecure  ( the Middle East,  parts of Africa and South America for example ),  we advise using an end-to-end courier such as DHL or UPS for any items of high importance or intrinsic value.

international delivery times

The promised transit time for Royal Mail International Standard  ('Airmail')  and International Signed-for  is 3 - 5 working days within Europe,  and 5 - 8 working days to the rest of the world.   Most Couriers offer similar delivery times as standard,  whilst their various International Express* services are claimed to be marginally faster at 2 - 3 working days to destinations within the EU,  and 3 - 5 days for the rest of the world.

*Please note that a 'next day' international courier service does not exist in practice.   Dig into the small print on a Courier's website and you'll see that both the collection and delivery points must be unfeasibly close to one of their distribution 'hubs',  and a pick-up must often be booked a day in advance.

Whilst all of our regional Mail Centres are functioning normally,  postal and courier services around the world are experiencing various levels of delay due to the global Corona Virus pandemmic. . .  so please bear this in mind!

for your security!

Despatches containing a payment card,  passport or driving licence will always be forwarded by a 'trackable' service  ( regardless of the options you may have selected )!   If you are unable to sign for mail on delivery,  for whatever reason,  please send a message to [email protected]  from the email address registered to your account,  with the wording below.   We will then add a legal waiver to your records that will allow us to despatch by standard post.

"My mailbox Key is:  *****.   If I so instruct,  please forward any payment card,  valid passport or driving licence by standard,  untracked,  mail.   I understand and accept the risks associated with sending such items by standard post and I hold expost harmless in the event of loss.   I further understand that no tracking information or proof of delivery will be available to me."

timelines

All outgoing post is collected by the Royal Mail at around noon each weekday,  and by private couriers according to their individual schedules.   Because Royal Mail deliveries can arrive at any time up until 3:30pm,  mail is always logged in and processed for despatch early the following morning.

From 6am our mailrooms sort and prepare that day's forwarding despatches and will include any Demand requests that are received before 9am.   Mail delivered on Saturday is logged-in on Monday morning,  before despatching,  to avoid delays caused by the weekend.

All of our Centres are manned 24 hours,  seven days a week,  to accept out-of-hours courier deliveries.

prohibited items

Certain types of goods are either prohibited in the post,  or have legal restrictions placed upon their carriage.

Because we can't forward items that we have reason to believe may contain prohibited goods,  please take a few minutes to consider our Legal Advice page or visit the Royal Mail website.   Similar restrictions are also imposed by private courier firms.