Royal Mail has enhanced its Parcel Collect service so posties will now take pre-printed labels to addresses that have booked parcel collection. This opens the reach of the service to millions of customers who do not have printers and cannot print their own labels.

Parcel Collect already offers convenience to customers who might not have the time to stand in Post Office queues. Now everyone in the UK can arrange for their parcels to be collected from their home address via the Royal Mail website. Those who need a self-adhesive label can ask for one as part of the parcel collection booking process. The service costs 60p per parcel + the cost of postage.

Postmen and postwomen can also collect the parcels from a designated safe place as part of the service, meaning that the customer does not have to wait in. The service is offered as part of the 85,000 strong delivery team’s daily delivery rounds. As well as allowing people to send parcels to one another, Parcel Collect also includes returns to e-commerce companies.

Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: “Every day our posties walk past every house in the country at about the same time. People know when their postie is going to deliver and now they can send or return parcels at the same time. If people aren’t going to be in, they can leave their item in a safe place for our postie to collect it and now if they don’t have a printer at home, they can ask their postie to bring the label with them. How convenient is that! As the nights continue to draw in and the weather gets worse, why go out when you can stay safe and warm and leave the hard work to your friendly local postie. And even better, many of our deliveries and collections are carried out by posties who walk their rounds – the greenest way to send and return.”