Category: Mailing

Christmas may seem like a life time away but the truth is that it is only 6 months until the big day. Many people start to do their Christmas shopping early and although you have a good few months before the main bulk of the Christmas items hit the shops there is no harm in planning ahead.

If you have a lot of friends or relatives that live far away and you will need to post their presents to them, you can often add a big chunk on to your Christmas shopping for postage charges.

Before going down to your local Post Office, have a look online at some of the companies that offer deliveries. Often they use the main couriers but are able to offer discounts to people that are only sending a handful of items, often making them cheaper than the Post Office.

If ordering items online, rather than having them delivered to you, see if you can have them delivered straight to the recipient as lots of shops ow offer a gift wrapping service. Keep your eyes open for places that are offering free shipping for a limited period and try and take advantage of these offers.

Looking for the perfect gift for a friend or family member can be a bit of a nightmare. You may struggle to know what to get them but want to show them that you care. Gift cards are a great present especially if you know where someone likes to shop. If you are buying for a child then you may want to buy a gift voucher for one of the large toy retailers such as Smyths or The Entertainer.

Another great thing with gift cards are they can be sent very easily and cheaply through the post. You can often pop them inside the car and only pay your usually postage fee. If you are sending a card of high value then you may wish to send it via recorded delivery or if you need to guarantee it will get there the next day then special delivery option is the one for you.

We have all had that horrible moment when we realise that we have not sent a present to someone whose birthday is the following day and you have missed the last post. Well do not fear as many retailers are now allowing you to send gift cards via email again saving on postage and ensuring that the present arrives on time.

If you have recently placed an order online you may have the option to track the delivery of the item. Depending on what service it has been sent by, you may be able to just check when it has been despatched and when it has been delivered to the address or you may even be able to track its route across the country and see what parcel delivery number you are on the day its due out to you. It can tell you the drivers name and the expected time of delivery. Some companies may offer this as standard especially on large or expensive items others may offer you the option to upgrade to a tracked delivery service.

Tracking your items can allow you to check if it should arrive on time and can also mean you don’t have to wait in for days not sure exactly when to expect it. If you notice that your parcel hasn’t moved for a day or so you could ring up the tracking company to chase it up.

If you are posting items to someone then again ideally you want to be able to track it. This can avoid issues that may arise such as the customer saying they have not received an order.

When it comes to marketing there is a huge array that you can chose from. It may be that you most if not all of your marketing online and believe that this is the best for your business, or you may use more of the traditional methods such as cold calling and leaflet drops to build up your customer base. Not all marketing methods work as well for all companies, often you need to find out what works best within your industry and with the types of customers you want to attract.

Email marketing has been about for some time now, and although a lot of businesses get a great response from this, some companies still stand by posting out leaflets and flyers.

An email can be sent easier, quicker and cheaper but it is so easy for a person to ignore it or delete it that you may find a large percentage of them are essentially wasted – especially if your database hasn’t been cleansed for a while.

With postal marketing, you can make the envelope attractive to entice people to want to open it. They are then more likely to have a read through and once you have them at this stage you can then start to sell your products or services.

There may be times when you need to send valuable or important items or documents through the post. These may include birth or marriage certificates, passports, money or documents containing sensitive date.

Royal mail offer several services which are designed to be used to send letters and parcels securely and often offer insurance cover should the item get lost. The Special Delivery Guaranteed service by the Post Office guarantees to get your letter to the recipient on time and securely otherwise you will receive your money back. This service allows you to track important documents online and get signed proof of delivery via the website. It also offers compensation cover for sending jewellery, cash or other valuables through the post using this service.

This service can also be used for Saturday deliveries at an additional cost to ensure timely delivery. The Special Delivery Guaranteed service can also be upgraded to include consequential loss cover. This is available for an additional fee and may be used when sending tax returns or documents that if late, could result in penalties for example. The cost for this service varies depending on the size and weight of the letter or parcel and also the level of cover you require.