Royal Mail small business assistance during Coronavirus

Following our earlier interview with Royal Mail’s Jon Nicholson, we asked some more indepth questions as to how the service has had to adapt through the Coronavirus pandemic, what’s happening with packets being shipped internationally and what other Royal Mail small business assistance is available, both for existing customers and for businesses starting to ship items sold online for the first time.

You can see the first three parts of the interview published earlier here.

How have Royal Mail Adapted their operation and the impact on delivery times

We asked Royal Mail why their delivery offices are running with reduced hours and why letters aren’t being delivered 6 days a week. Jon also walks through changes such as not capturing a physical signature, what happens with age verification, There’s also some positives – for instance first time delivery rates have gone up – mainly because so many are either working from home or on furlough.

Jon also highlights that part of the Royal Mail small business assistance is to extend the time from producing a label before you drop it off which enables small businesses to visit early in the day when delivery offices are open.

What Royal Mail small business assistance is available for International & Collections

We asked Royal Mail what the situation with international shipping is especially when they are in lock down. Jon also points out that with air travel reduced capacity has also been a challenge. However the good news is that Royal Mail are still shipping internationally and the flow for parcels to leave the country still exists.

We also asked about Royal Mail small business assistance for collections from businesses, especially for those who may have had to pause due to temporary closure of their operations. Jon points out that the reverse can also be true which is businesses who have seen massively increased volumes and how Royal Mail can help you with this.

What other Royal Mail small business assistance is available?

Jon encourages small businesses to download the Royal Mail app for everything from tracking items, producing labels on the go and checking opening times locally. Click and Drop is another tool constantly being developed which is ideal for even the smallest of businesses.

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