Send real letters from the Internet to anywhere in the world.
# Sunday, 15 December 2013

The last recommended posting dates for Christmas are fast approaching. Royal Mail recommends that 2nd class mail is posted by Wednesday 18th of December. 1st Class mail by Friday the 20th of December and Special Delivery by Monday the 23rd of December.

posted on Sunday, 15 December 2013 12:37:42 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 04 December 2013

The last recommended posting dates are fast approaching, some in fact are all ready here. Make sure you get your letters in the post in plenty of time. Post them by the following dates to be in time for Christmas.

  • Wednesday 4 December for Asia, the Far East, New Zealand
  • Thursday 5 December for Australia
  • Friday 6 December for Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East
  • Monday 9 December for Cyprus, Eastern Europe
  • Tuesday 10 December for Canada, France, Greece, Poland
  • Friday 13 December for USA
  • Saturday 14 December for Western Europe (excluding France, Greece, Poland)
posted on Wednesday, 04 December 2013 15:47:20 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Our US based printing station will be taking a well deserved break for Thanksgiving. Their offices will be closed on the 28th and 29th of November. Any US based mail received after close of business on the 27th of November will still be sent to our US based printing station for processing but will not reach the postal system until Monday the 2nd of December.

posted on Wednesday, 27 November 2013 16:24:25 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Thursday, 31 October 2013

A Royal Mail strike which was planned for next week has been called off after a new agreement has been reached. The agreement is though to include an improved pay offer and a separate pensions agreement. This new agreement should be finalised within the next two weeks.

posted on Thursday, 31 October 2013 14:00:46 (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Royal Mail workers have voted for a national 24 hour strike. This will take place on the 4th of November. PC2Paper use Royal Mail for all of our outgoing mail so we expect disruption on this day. Customers should be aware that during strike action we will be unable to pass any mail to the postal service. Normal service will resume as soon as the Royal Mail service is back to normal. We will update customers if we receive any further information on the strike action.

posted on Wednesday, 16 October 2013 16:48:21 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 13 September 2013

Postal Workers look set to strike as the government goes ahead with plans to privatise Royal Mail. The unions are to ballot their members on strike action which could begin in mid-October and continue in the run up to Christmas causing widespread disruption to the postal service.

We will be watching this story closely and keep our customers up to date with any further developments.

posted on Friday, 13 September 2013 11:54:30 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Friday, 23 August 2013

Monday the 26th of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. All mail sent after our 4pm cut-off time on Friday the 23rd of August will be processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 27th of August. The PC2Paper office is also closed for the Bank Holiday, any email queries will be answered on Tuesday the 27th of August.

posted on Friday, 23 August 2013 17:40:53 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback
# Wednesday, 21 August 2013

We've had several requests for an example on using our SOAP API, so decided to throw one together for you to get an idea of how it works.

The example below will send PDF documents as a letter with a cover letter which is written as a formatted HTML string (see the LetterBody attribute below).

To make more use of this example and to adapt it to your needs you may need to look at the Letter Pricing API along with the country code list which can all be found here.

If you would like us to advise you on what are the best options to use for postage and paper usage please contact us.

   1:  <?php
   2:   
   3:  $client = new SoapClient("https://www.pc2paper.co.uk/lettercustomerapi.svc?wsdl");
   4:   
   5:  // Your PC2Paper Username and Password go below
   6:  $pc2paperUsername = "username";
   7:  $pc2paperPassword = "password";
   8:   
   9:  //First we upload a PDF we wish to attach to our letter
  10:   
  11:  $file = file_get_contents("C:\tempfiles\mytestfile.pdf");
  12:   
  13:  //We give the pdf a friendly name
  14:  $parametersUpload->filename = "mytestFile.pdf";
  15:  $parametersUpload->fileContent = $file;
  16:  $parametersUpload->username=$pc2paperUsername;
  17:  $parametersUpload->password=$pc2paperPassword;
  18:   
  19:  //We submit our PDF to PC2Paper
  20:  $uploadedFileResult = $client->UploadDocument($parametersUpload);
  21:   
  22:  // Not the above return value contains the following
  23:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->ErrorMessages  (A a string array of any errors that took place)
  24:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->FileCreatedGUID (The created files GUID)0
  25:  // $uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->Status (OK or ERROR, if error check ErrorMessages array
  26:   
  27:  //After our PDF has been submited we get a GUID which we store in an array to use with our letter below.
  28:  //Note you can attach multiple PDF's to your letter by adding to this array.
  29:  $fileGuidArray =  array($uploadedFileResult->UploadDocumentResult->FileCreatedGUID);
  30:   
  31:   
  32:  // ********** The actual Letter.
  33:  // We put an address together
  34:  $address->ReceiverName = "Tom Smith";
  35:  $address->ReceiverAddressLine1 = "Line 1 ";
  36:  $address->ReceiverAddressLine2 = "Line 2";
  37:  $address->ReceiverAddressTownCityOrLine3 = "My Town";
  38:  $address->ReceiverAddressCountyStateOrLine4 = "County";
  39:  $address->ReceiverAddressPostCode = "ZZ1 2ZZ";
  40:   
  41:  // Add the address to an address array
  42:  $addressArray = array($address);
  43:   
  44:  //Add the address array to our letter
  45:  $letter->Addresses = $addressArray ;
  46:   
  47:  //Setup our postage options (use the LetterPosting API for these values 
  48:  //or ask us and we will be happy to provide the values based on your needs)
  49:   
  50:   
  51:  // 1=UK , 240=US for a list of more please refer to country.csv file from the API section of our website.
  52:  $letter->ReceiverCountryCode = 1; 
  53:   
  54:  $letter->IncludeSenderAddressOnEnvelope = true;
  55:  $letter->Postage = 3; //UK First Class
  56:  $letter->Paper = 1;  // B&W Single Sides print
  57:  $letter->Extras = 0;
  58:  $letter->Envelope = 1; //Simple DL envelope
  59:  $letter->Pages = 2;
  60:  $letter->FileAttachementGUIDs = $fileGuidArray;
  61:   
  62:  $letter->SenderAddress = "Peter Smith\nMy Town";
  63:   
  64:  //This is the cover letter of your letter. Leave this null if you do not want a cover letter
  65:  //You may use formatted HTML in here to format your letter.
  66:  $letter->LetterBody = "<p>Hi Tom,</p> <p>This is a letter sent from PHP!</p>";
  67:   
  68:   
  69:  $parameters->letterForPosting = $letter;
  70:   
  71:  // Your PC2Paper username and password
  72:  $parameters->username = $pc2paperUsername;
  73:  $parameters->password = $pc2paperPassword;
  74:   
  75:  $result = $client->SendSubmitLetterForPosting($parameters);
  76:   
  77:  // The return object will give you the following
  78:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->CostOfLetter
  79:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->ErrorMessages  (any errors that took place)
  80:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->FundsLeftInYourAccount
  81:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->LetterId
  82:  // $result->SendSubmitLetterForPostingResult->Status (OK if everything went ok or ERROR, if error check the ErrorMessages array)
  83:   
  84:   
  85:  print_r($result);
  86:  ?>
posted on Wednesday, 21 August 2013 21:02:50 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Trackback