Well, I didn't know this, and it may be useful to others!

DD has an Etsy shop and does this regularly, she has also arranged a ‘pick up’ by our Postman for an extra 70p, for an oversized package.

I’ve only just realised you can buy books of stamps from the the Royal Mail website. They cost 1p a stamp more but a small price to pay to avoid queueing in a shop or PO.

Yes, Click and Drop is brilliant. I used it quite a bit before Christmas - some parcels were small enough to go in the letterbox. If not I took them to the parcel box in town - there was always a queue outside our small local PO.

Parcel2go.com is a brilliant site. You put in the recipients postcode and the size and weight of the parcel and up pops loads of options from different companies with prices. You can choose drop off or pick up. My local drop off place is the petrol station which is usually pretty quiet, but for larger boxes I get them to collect from my house. Then when you have chosen, you print off a label and stick it on your parcel. I use this site all the time for sending larger parcels to my son overseas. This isn't suitable for small packets and letters though.

Sorry hit post too soon. I meant to say, I use my bathroom scales for larger parcels, which are digital so pretty accurate. I weigh myself, then again holding the parcel and do the math!

I put postage stamps in my online Tesco order.

Parcelmonkey will tell you which courier services will collect - and also provide the labels.

Where do we post these oversized parcels if they are too big to fit in a normal letterbox?

ExD If you use the Post Office online service as I did, your local postman will collect it from you on a day of your choice. This is what I did at Christmas. I'm not sure about really big parcels though. Mine wouldn't have fitted in a letterbox.

Very useful info. Thanks.

You don't have to have sticky labels, btw, just print it on a piece of paper and sellotape to your package.

Also, if you need to, you can print another copy of the label to keep as your receipt of the cost.

(I only found all this out quite recently too.)

I sent several large parcels to Portugal before Christmas. One was delivered less than 24 hours later - door to door. Picked up by courier, cheaper than Royal Mail as well. You don’t need a printer as they can print it for you.

I also ordered my postage stamps along with my supermarket delivery, which was so easy.

You can do all your postage online, letters and parcels. Post office and independent couriers. I use Hermes and DHL a lot as they are much cheaper than Royal Mail and they give you an option for picking up the parcel from your house or go to a drop of point often much easier than queuing at the post office.

Thank you for the useful information I didn’t know this. Just incase you didn’t know, if the recipient doesn’t receive the package in time scale you expected Royal Mail are under huge pressure with sickness and people buying online that some parcels in some areas still haven’t been delivered from December.

I've used this several times during the pandemic, since the collect service started. You can use a kitchen scale, and little printers aren't very expensive now really. It's really easy to organise and print the labels, and the regular postie picks them up at the door. It's been a very useful thing for us as the nearest PO isn't close by and we haven't fancied going since covid. Only the normal postage charge plus 72p.

I've used this service a couple of times now and am about to use it again to send my grandaughter a couple of things I've knitted for her. If you pay an extra 57p Royal Mail will collect the parcel from your home.

We’ve been using the Royal Mail website for all our parcels and letters since August. Weigh parcel on kitchen scales , fill in details on line , pay and print labels and give to our postman when he calls ,, fantastic service by RM ! We did our parcels for Australia this way and the choice of postage was good for under 2kgs , amazing what you can send for that weight.... hope RM continues this service when the pandemic is over ..

At Christmas I sent parcels to USA for my daughter and family, I have discovered in the past with the Post Office that over a certain weight the prices shoots up quite considerably. So I tried Parcels2go which lists lots of different companies and their services, so it is easy to compare. I had 3 parcels to post of different shapes and weights. Each parcel individually would have cost approx £38, but they do a multiple offer and it cost me £68 for the three of them. Parcels were collected from my front door, and arrived with my daughter 3 days later. The Royal Mail appears on the list, plus all the big names and some I have never heard of.
Yesterday my husband had a parcel to post to UK, we weighed and measured it, due to be collected between 9 and 5.30 today, was collected at 8.45. Was again cheaper than Royal Mail and did not have to queue and get a nasty shock at the price.
It is just good to have options.
Even with postage stamps I order them with my Asda shop and get them delivered, just saves another trip out at the moment.

This is called Click and Drop, I've been using it for a while now. If the package is too large for a post box you can drop it in what they now call a parcel box. In my area this is the same box I used to post my franked mail when I worked. If you haven't used these in the past they look like very large post boxes, might be one near you that you haven't noticed before.

I only found out about this service when passing a very large post box,and i read the information on it.
A great idea.

Thank you... I had no idea. I’ll use this in future.

The only problem with this is that you do not have “proof of posting “. A problem if returning goods, selling or, if the parcel goes astray, claiming compensation. In these cases you still need to take it to the PO.
On the positive side, the postage is slightly cheaper and there are more postage options on the website.

Think I may have to make use of this soon. 5 post offices in my area have all closed in the past year. The only one left is located in a national newsagent in the shopping mall. Unfortunately the PO is located upstairs and the lift is constantly out of order. So much for a public service.

I had a parcel to return and not only could I sort out the postage at home but the postman also collected it. The systems, offers and options through the post office are getting better and better. So impressed.

I discovered this service just after Christmas and was so happy not to queue at p.o. They charged me just 70p on top of my postage and I think it was a bargain.