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

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.)

Very useful info. Thanks.

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.

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

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

I put postage stamps in my online Tesco order.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

This practice has just been stopped in France for parcels going out of the country. We now have to take the parcels to the Post Office.

Grannynannywanny

I did this in December for the first time. I had a box of Christmas gifts I wanted to post to my grandchildren 150 miles away. As this is an anonymous forum I’ll share with you how efficiently I managed it ?

It was a sizeable box and I knew it was going to be expensive. The parcel categories to select from after weighing were 1-2kg 3-5kg 6-8kg etc. I sat the box on the bathroom scales, checked the price chart and was relieved to see it only cost £9.40 for up to 2kg.

In my excitement and relief my logical thinking went out the window. I printed the label and stuck it on the large box ready for the courier to collect the next day. An hour later I began to think how surprising that large box of goodies only weighs just under 2 kg. Then the penny dropped I was looking between the 1 and 2 stones markers on the bathroom scales!

I phoned the delivery company, absolutely mortified, and told them what I’d stupidly done. The call handler laughed it off and cancelled the transaction. I gave up and went to the post office and stood in a very long queue.

Sounds like something I would do!

Thank you for thinking of us

We did this some weeks ago. Had to go to the PO though as parcels too big for post box. Just handed them in Easy

I queued for ages at the PO to send something only to be told they are not accepting mail for Europe as it is suspended at the moment. Would it not have been sensible to have a notice to this effect on display? They told me to keep looking on line to find out when this suspension has been lifted. OK if you have the internet!

I suppose it depends upon the size and weight of your parcel B9exchange, in my case, it was a soft padded envelope, sent as a small parcel up to 2kg for £3.00.

This is the Royal Mail website for arranging to pay postage online and have your parcel collected.
send.royalmail.com/

I find online couriers much cheaper than Royal Mail, and you can either drop off at a corner shop with no waiting, or have it collected from your home. When Christmas cancelled at the last minute it was a Godsend, and parcels arrived the next day!

Callistemon

If you have a food processor it may have inbuilt, very accurate scales.

That may be obvious to many but it was a while after I had the food processor that I realised .

I should have read the instruction book.

If you have a food processor it may have inbuilt, very accurate scales.

Thanks for the information, GillT57. I had heard that you could pay extra to have a parcel collected for posting, but why didn't I know about this?!

I'll have to watch myself though, or I'll be doing a Grannynannywanny for sure. Only today I had to speak to the Pensions Service, and was adamant that I was giving them the right National Insurance number. Till I realised I'd picked up my NSI (premium bonds) number from my useful list instead.

Thank you I didn't know this.

It’s a good idea. I wish I’d known before Christmas. Our PO was helpful when I rang and asked if there was a good time to visit. They mentioned a few times that tended to be quiet-no guarantee of course.

I did this in December for the first time. I had a box of Christmas gifts I wanted to post to my grandchildren 150 miles away. As this is an anonymous forum I’ll share with you how efficiently I managed it ?

It was a sizeable box and I knew it was going to be expensive. The parcel categories to select from after weighing were 1-2kg 3-5kg 6-8kg etc. I sat the box on the bathroom scales, checked the price chart and was relieved to see it only cost £9.40 for up to 2kg.

In my excitement and relief my logical thinking went out the window. I printed the label and stuck it on the large box ready for the courier to collect the next day. An hour later I began to think how surprising that large box of goodies only weighs just under 2 kg. Then the penny dropped I was looking between the 1 and 2 stones markers on the bathroom scales!

I phoned the delivery company, absolutely mortified, and told them what I’d stupidly done. The call handler laughed it off and cancelled the transaction. I gave up and went to the post office and stood in a very long queue.

Thankyou for highlighting GillT57,certainly at the moment anything that minimises contact with others is good.
Yes,you can put in post box. For a small fee 72p they will collect from home.
Scales may be an issue but I had cooking ones plus if needed a gadget that weighs suitcase.
My printer wasn't working,after a few hours trial and error it now is so could print my label.
Before that I had gone online to check couriers, I think the site was parcel monkey. There are couriers who will supply label which they attach when collect parcel.