Royal Mail have apologised for its performance during the festive period as it emerged last Christmas was the worst performance since records began. Only one in three letters sent via first class mail met the companies target of arriving on the next working day. Some customers only received their cards and presents in the middle of January. Royal Mail has said that the delays were caused by extremely bad weather during December but consumer groups are unconvinced. Here at PC2Paper we certainly experienced delays in December due to very deep snow meaning Royal Mail vans were unable to collect from post boxes and businesses. The knock on effect and huge backlog of mail caused delays well into the middle of January. We did also experience more lost mail during this period as a result. That being said, we did have rather a lot of snow with up to 18 inches in the area local to our office so we can understand why there was so much disruption to the usually very good service.

Royal Mail has recently launched a set of new stamps featuring the creations of Gerry Anderson. He is the man who created the Thunderbirds. The stamps feature Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Supercar, Joe 90 and the Thunderbirds.

Many commuters will have found they are paying a lot more for their train ticket this week as prices have gone up across the network. Prices have gone up an average of 6% but on some routes such as those run by Southeastern commuters have seen increases of as much as 12%. This article has a useful map showing the increases across the rail network so you can see how your journey has been affected.

PC2Paper is closed on Friday 31st of December and Monday 3rd of January. There are no postage collections or deliveries on these days. All mail sent after 4pm on Thursday 30th of December will be sent on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 5th of January.

The last recommended posting dates for Christmas mail have now passed. Delivery cannot now be guaranteed in time for Christmas. PC2Paper will continue to post all letters received as normal, however, customers should be aware that these are likely to arrive after Christmas.

PC2Paper is closed from Friday 24th of December through Tuesday 28th of December inclusive for the Christmas break. Any mail sent after close of business on Thursday 23rd of December will be sent on the next available working day Wednesday 29th the December. All mail sent during the period when we are closed will be queued in the system until the next day that we are open.

It has been necessary to suspend all of our tracked mailing services due to the bad weather conditions. Unfortunately as we cannot guarantee the reliability of our business collections during the current bad weather we have suspended these services until further notice. This affects Recorded Delivery and Special Delivery, International Signed Delivery and Airsure services. We will continue to review the situation and reinstate these as soon as we are able to do so.

Royal Mail have withdrawn their Special Delivery guarantee whilst they work to clear the backlog caused by the recent bad weather. Any mail sent via the Special Delivery service will still given priority but cannot currently be guaranteed to arrive on the next working day. During this time customers will be unable to claim for delayed mail under the normal Special Delivery guidelines. PC2Paper are continuing to offer the Special Delivery option on the website but customers should be advised that this should be treated as a priority delivery option rather than a guaranteed next day service.This applies to all Special Delivery items posted after the 1st of December.

The last recommended posting date for Christmas mail to Eastern Europe, the USA and Canada is today (10th of December). Any mail received after this date will still be posted as normal but cannot be guaranteed in time for Christmas. Customers can still use our USA printing station for a quicker delivery time.