On March 23rd the Prime Minister announced further restrictions to attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. The official guidelines are here.
As of now, online businesses are not being told to close. Therefore as long as carriers continue to collect and deliver I will continue to trade.
Please be aware that all carriers will face pressure due to increased demand and potentially decreased workforce. Many Royal Mail depots across the country are on reduced staff due to illness/self-isolation. Royal Mail are no longer guaranteeing Special Delivery by 1pm Next Working Day service and longer delivery times should be expected across all services. Your understanding is appreciated.
I have made the decision to remove non-tracked services from international orders for the time being. The ability to track orders during potential customs clearance backlogs is essential at this time. Unfortunately that will mean smaller orders may no longer be cost effective for my international customers, and for that I am sorry. Some countries are having delivery issues – updates will be posted at the bottom of this post with a link to the Royal Mail International Incident page.
I will obviously be monitoring the situation and will post updates here should things change.
Please be safe and let’s all do our part.
Royal Mail International Incident Bulletin.
Update July 31st
CANADA DELAYS: All mail being sent from the UK to Canada is facing severe delays because of the on-going impact of OVID-19 and record volumes of traffic being received in Canada.
We are processing the mail as normal in the UK, but delays are taking place once the mail reaches the Canadian border. As a result, we are unable to advise on likely delivery times.
Update April 29th
From May 2nd Royal Mail are suspending delivery of letters on Saturdays to concentrate on delivering parcel and tracked services.
From 2 May we will temporarily no longer deliver letters on a Saturday. We will continue to provide a letter delivery service from Monday to Friday as normal. The majority of parcel services will be delivered on a Saturday including 1st and 2nd
Class Parcels, Royal Mail Tracked 24 and 48, Royal Mail Tracked Returns, Special Delivery Guaranteed and International tracked services.
Customers should continue to post both letters and parcels as usual on Saturday. We will continue our Saturday collections from businesses, post offices and post boxes as normal.
Royal Mail Covid Changes To Service
Update:6 April 2020
Mail shipments to New Zealand have resumed. We’re prioritising mail held during the recent period of suspension, delays may still be evident until this mail is cleared.
EDIT 03/04/20
From Monday April 6th Royal Mail Customer Service points will be operating reduced hours for the public. This does not currently affect dispatch of my mail as it is collected from me in the afternoon.
To protect the health and safety of our people and the general public, from Monday 6 April, we are changing the opening times of our Customer Services Points in our local delivery offices. Our largest locations will be open between 07:00-11:00am. All other Customer Service Points will be open between 07:00-09:00am. All will be closed on Wednesday and Sunday.
