Royal Mail to offer free home parcel collection service

Royal Mail is to offer to collect parcels from customers' homes for free across the UK using its Parcel Collect service.

In order to use the service, which normally includes a pick-up charge of 72p for a parcel, customers simply need to ensure they have already paid the correct postage to send their item.

If an item does not have pre-paid postage, customers are able to pay for their postage online using Click & Drop via the Royal Mail App.

Royal Mail will waive the pick-up charge until 30 May 2021 in a bid to make its service "more convenient", as it continues to reinvent the way it delivers to and from customers".

Launched in October 2020, Parcel Collect has enabled postmen and postwomen to collect parcels and returns from customers while they carry out their daily round. As well as offering even higher levels of convenience, the move enables online sellers and online shoppers to mail or return a pre-paid item by post from the comfort of their own home.

Parcel Collect is currently available six days a week and can be booked up to five days in advance and up to midnight the day before.

Speaking about the new offer, Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: “The introduction of Parcel Collect has been incredibly successful. This promotion is an opportunity for all consumers across the UK to try out this fantastic service free of charge.”

In the last month, Royal Mail has announced it is to trial a Sunday parcel delivery service with a number of popular retail brands and announced a partnership with online marketplace giant Amazon to launch a new click and collect trial service.