{"id":780,"date":"2012-05-23T07:55:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T07:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/?p=780"},"modified":"2012-06-01T17:50:31","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T17:50:31","slug":"going-postal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2012\/05\/going-postal\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Postal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I sat and did the Brigade post this week, as I do every week – weighing packages, printing out labels, writing customs tickets etc. And for the third week in a row, I took a sharp intake of breath at the end of it all. If you’re outside the UK you probably may not be aware that the Royal Mail hiked their prices considerably<\/a> at the end of April. The main impact is at the lower end of the weight scale, where most of the parcels we send are – RM have effectively put the minimum prices of most services up by a pound or more. On each of the past three weeks we’ve lost money on postage, and that’s before we start taking account of the cost of packaging (ziplock bags, padded envelopes, boxes, even the labels used to print the postage – they all add up).<\/p>\n

So … well, you know what’s coming next, don’t you ? Much as we hate to, we’re going to have to alter our postage charges structure, effective immediately. We’re raising the \u00a31 handling fee per order to \u00a32 + VAT (for orders from Europe) or \u00a32.50 (Rest of the World) BUT at the same time we’ve reducing the percentage fees for both. UK prices will remain the same for the moment. The net effect of this will be to raise the minimum postage price for overseas orders, but by reducing the percentages the effect will be less for medium to large orders, and in fact large orders will cost less than they do at the moment. It’s on small orders where it will be most noticeable, but that reflects the changes that RM have made.<\/p>\n

You can see the exact details on the ordering page<\/a> on our website. If you have any queries or comments about this, please feel free to e-mail us<\/a> about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sat and did the Brigade post this week, as I do every week – weighing packages, printing out labels, writing customs tickets etc. And for the third week in a row, I took a sharp intake of breath at … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shipping-stories"],"views":2800,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p26BWy-cA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11256,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2020\/06\/postage-increase-to-usa-advanced-warning\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":0},"title":"Postage Increase to USA – Advanced Warning","author":"Tony","date":"June 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Royal Mail have recently given notice of an increase in their prices to the USA; it's a result of the decision by the US Postal Service to increase the prices they charge other postal services to deliver overseas mail within the US (it's known as the 'last mile' delivery).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shipping Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Shipping Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/shipping-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2571,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2013\/07\/going-postal-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":1},"title":"Going Postal – again !","author":"Tony","date":"July 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Our dear old friends the Royal Mail are at it again. Back in April they introduced a completely new price structure for UK packages with two new categories, small and large package, replacing the old parcel category. They also reviewed (ie increased) prices for overseas packages. After a while with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shipping Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Shipping Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/shipping-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"RoyalMail","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RoyalMail.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16083,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2025\/04\/shipping-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":2},"title":"Shipping Update","author":"Tony","date":"April 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In a short break from Salute, we've been updating our shipping charges with an eye on the new Royal Mail prices that come into effect on Monday. The good news for once is that 'updating' doesn't necessarily mean 'increasing', at least not for everything. We've changed our UK 'First Class'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shipping Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Shipping Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/shipping-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Parcels.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Parcels.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Parcels.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Parcels.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":587,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2012\/04\/happy-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":3},"title":"Happy now !","author":"Tony","date":"April 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Postage calculator fixed (woo-hoo !). It turned out to be (as suspected) a PayPal bug from one of their system 'upgrades'. Fortunately we have a fix which seems to be working for now.","rel":"","context":"In "Shipping Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Shipping Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/shipping-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2198,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2013\/02\/are-you-sitting-comfortably\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":4},"title":"Are you sitting comfortably ? …","author":"Tony","date":"February 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"... then I'll begin. Many, many years ago, one fresh-faced spotty youth, at that time deeply immersed in the world of 6mm Moderns (WRG Modern Rules 1950-85) had a go at scratch-building a church from plasticard and DAS modelling clay. A second, equally fresh-faced and spotty friend saw the model\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Special Offers"","block_context":{"text":"Special Offers","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/special-offers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"25th Anniversary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/25th-Anniversary1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/25th-Anniversary1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/25th-Anniversary1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/2012\/02\/shapeways-combined-ordering\/","url_meta":{"origin":780,"position":5},"title":"Shapeways – combined ordering","author":"Tony","date":"February 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading various forums (should that be fora ?) it seems that one issue which is vexing people about our Shapeways items is the issue of shipping charges. Shapeways charge a flat-rate $6.50 to US addresses, $9.50 to Europe and an eye-watering $19.99 to the rest of the world (these are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3D Print"","block_context":{"text":"3D Print","link":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/category\/3d-print\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/SH6-302a-1-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brigademodels.co.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}