The Royal Mail’s Pricing in Proportion (PiP) initiative came into effect on 21st August 2006, changing the criteria for pricing mail from weight alone to a combination of size, weight and volume. In general, the new system means you will pay the same or less to send small items of post, and more to send larger, bulkier items. The new Royal Mail pricing system is designed to rebalance postage prices to reflect the fact that larger, bulkier items cost more to handle than smaller, lighter ones. Here is some information to help you plan for the change.
While Royal Mail's current system is based only on the weight of your items, the new PiP initiative will be based on both the size and weight of your item. There will be three main size formats - Letter, Large Letter and Packet:
Letters
Letter covers items including most postcards, bills, statements and most greetings cards. The price for posting these items won't change - in fact you can still use your existing stamps on Letters.
Length:240mm max
Width:165mm max
Thickness:5mm max
Weight:100g max |
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Large Letters
This covers items such as magazines, CDs or in some DVD's in cases (depending on their thickness), and A4 envelopes. The price of a Large Letter stamp starts at 44p
Length:353mm max
Width:250mm max
Thickness:25mm max
Weight:750g max
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Packets
This covers anything longer OR, thicker OR wider than a large letter - so packets include items such as VHS cassettes, books, prints and posters in cylindrical packaging. You'll need to weigh these, just as you do now, to see the new cost prior to sending.
Length:over 353mm OR
Width:over 250mm OR
Thickness:over 25mm OR
Weight:over 750g |
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Information to help you work out the price and size of the item you are sending along with details of all products affected by the pricing system like first class stamps, freepost and prepaid products is available from the Royal Mail website and for your convenience we have included these a link below:
Royal Mail
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