Please find below our latest update regarding our global transport & delivery networks. Our aim is to update you regularly regarding postal flows out of the UK. We are continuously working with partners to minimise delays and ensure continuity of service. Service Update for Russia and Belarus Please be aware of the following service updates: Inbound service to Russia has been suspended, therefore we are not able to accept shipments to Russia until further notice. We have temporarily suspended inbound and outbound service for Belarus until further notice. We are closely monitoring this on ..read more

Our commitment to sustainability underpins everything we do as a business. Climate change and its relationship to man-made carbon emissions are significant global issues and we recognise the importance of understanding and improving the environmental impact of mail and parcels. It’s a role we take seriously, and whilst some changes will require additional time or technological advances that are not within our control, the measures we have already implemented are beginning to make a significant difference. In fact, Carbon Neutral Britain – the UK’s Carbon Offsetting Initiative – recently certif ..read more

DDP is one of the rules which have been developed by the International Chamber of Commerce in hopes of standardising shipping options across the globe. DDP in shipping means “Delivered Duty Paid” and this term, which is widely used within international trade, describes a type of delivery wherein the seller takes responsibility for all risk and fees when it comes to shipping any goods until they reach their destination.  Typically, many companies will only use the DDP method when shipping goods by air or sea freight. This option actually provides many benefits to the buyer, as they will b ..read more

You’ve probably noticed it with prices for, well, everything going up over the past few months, but what exactly is causing it? This article aims to explain what the current global energy crisis is, what it means for you, and how it is affecting the delivery and fulfilment industry with rising delivery costs in the UK and across the globe. What is the Energy Crisis?  The energy crisis deepened in December after the UK’s gas market prices surpassed all-time high pricing set in October to £.4.50 per therm – this is around nine times higher in cost when compared to the same time in 2020. So ..read more

The History of Delivery The postal service has been around for about 500 years and, in this time, new and innovative ways have been created to make mail deliveries faster, more efficient, and offer a range of benefits to society as a whole.  The postal service rapidly became a key channel for communication throughout society, and deliveries were needed to be as quick and efficient as possible in order to get up-to-date correspondence where it needed to go fast enough to remain fresh and relevant.  Under the postal system set up five hundred years ago, each town was required to have t ..read more

Postal mail played a vital role during the pandemic, serving as a communication and delivery lifeline to locked-down populations. As we unwind from the restrictions of the past two years, what shape is mail in today? Boom time for e-commerce Online retail has been growing consistently. But in 2020, with High Streets and malls forced to close, consumers filled their online baskets like never before. According to the analyst group Mckinsey, e-commerce grew two to five times faster during the pandemic. In the UK, for example, the e-commerce share of total retail sales leapt nearly fivefold. Othe ..read more

Paper – an everyday object. You barely give it a second thought. And like most commonplace items, it’s hard to imagine that there was once a time when it didn’t exist. In fact, the history of paper dates back almost 2000 years to when Chinese court officials first produced sheets from scraps of old rags, tree bark and fishing nets. The technique was a closely guarded secret for many centuries, and paper making would not reach Europe until the 11th Century. The first U.S. paper mill was later still, built in Pennsylvania in 1690. It’s been quite a journey. Since these very early beginnings, pa ..read more

Mailmark is a new type of barcoding system that is run by Royal Mail. The Mailmark is a type of marking that shows your mail is paid for and qualifies your mail to be carried. This qualification process is called franking, and fixing any kind of stamp or mark to a piece of mail is a type of franking. Mailmark enables faster machine-readable sorting for large or small letters. The Royal Mail and Post Office now use Mailmark as opposed to the old-style Standard franking, and the system aims to improve many of their products and services. Mailmark is a type of franking that offers the following ..read more

An air waybill, or an AWB, is a receipt from your air carrier when shipping by air. It is a contract between the business or individual who is shipping and the carrier organisation. Air waybills are designed especially for air cargo and are one of the most important documents for all the parties involved – from the shipper, to the carrier, to the consignee. The air waybill acts as a contract of carriage and also confirms the receipt of goods from one airport to another. The air waybill serves the following four crucial purposes: Billing record: An air waybill can be used as a billing record ..read more

If you have ever received an offer from a local business, a promotion for a new service operating in the area or even a nationwide catalogue, you will understand what it is like to receive direct mail advertising. It is simply advertising, through the mail, that goes directly to the consumer. There are many common types of direct mail advertising, such as the following: Ads and flyers: The most common type, whether it is a pizza coupon, restaurant opening event invite, a reminder to get a vaccine or perhaps vote for an upcoming election. Physical paper ads are the most common form of direct ..read more