We will be removing all of our tracked services from the website over the holiday period as we are unable to guarantee the despatch and delivery times of these services during this time. We will remove these services at the cut-off time on Monday the 23rd of December and reinstate them once we are open as normal after Christmas.

The last recommended posting dates for UK mail are as follows:

Wednesday 18 December
2nd Class and 2nd Class Signed For

Friday 20 December
1st Class and 1st Class Signed For
and Royal Mail Tracked 48*

Saturday 21 December
Royal Mail Tracked 24*

Monday 23 December
Special Delivery Guaranteed

PC2Paper will be closed on Monday the 27th of May for the May Bank Holiday. All letters received after our cut-off time of 3.30pm for normal mail and the earlier cut-off time of 1.00pm for tracked items on Friday the 24th of May will be sent on the following working day Tuesday the 28th of May.

Please not that there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collection on Monday the 27th of May so customers should expect the delivery of items to take longer over the Bank Holiday weekend as this is not classed as a working day.

In addition to the above any support queries we receive after close of business on Friday the 27th of may will be answered on the next working day, Tuesday the 28th of May.

Royal Mail are to increase postage prices from the 25th of March. The price of a 1st and 2nd class postage stamp will increase by 3p. Prices for Signed For, Special Delivery and International Tracked services are also set to increase. PC2Paper will increase its prices accordingly in line with the Royal Mail increases after close of business on Friday the 22nd of March.

Some parts of the UK are currently experiencing disruption to bad weather. Snow and ice is currently causing disruption to parts of Northern Ireland, South Wales and South West England. Please be aware that deliveries will currently be delayed in these areas until the weather improves.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has suspended its services in some areas due to the extreme weather conditions. Mail for these areas is still being processed into the postal service as normal but customers should expect delivery times to take longer until the local weather conditions start to improve. The full list of affected areas is as follows:

PC2Paper will be closed for the Christmas Holiday. Our last working day before Christmas will be Friday the 21st of December. We will reopen on Wednesday 2nd of January.

We are closed on the following days:

Monday 24th December
Tuesday 25th December: Christmas Day
Wednesday 26th December: Boxing Day
Thursday 27th December
Friday 28th December
Saturday 29th December: Normal weekend closure
Sunday 30th December: Normal weekend closure
Monday 31st December: New Year Eve
Tuesday 1st January: New Years Day Bank Holiday

During this time all mail received in our system will be queued as normal and can be cancelled from within your account if required.

The last UK posting dates for Christmas are as follows:

Tuesday 18 December

• 2nd Class
• Royal Mail Signed For® 2nd Class

Thursday 20 December

• 1st Class
• Royal Mail Signed For® 1st Class
• Royal Mail Tracked 48®*

Friday 21 December

• Royal Mail Tracked 24®*

Saturday 22 December

• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®

Royal Mail have advised that there are currently severe delays to Canadian mail due to ongoing strike action. Currently any mail bound for Canada is being held at Royal Mail's international distribution centre until further notice. We would recommend using an alternative posting method to Canadian destinations such as a courier service. You can see more about this at the following link.

The last posting dates for International Standard mail and International Tracked and Signed Mail are as follows:

Tue 4 December
Africa, Middle East

Fri 7 December
Cyprus, Malta, Asia, Far East, Eastern Europe (except Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia)

Sat 8 December
Caribbean, Central and South America

Mon 10 December
Greece, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand

Fri 14 December
Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and USA

Sat 15 December
Finland, Sweden

Mon 17 December
Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland

Tue 18 December
Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg

Monday the 27th of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail collections or deliveries on this day. PC2paper will be closed for the day. Any items of mail received after 1pm for tracked services and after 3.30pm for all other mail on Friday the 24th of August, will be posted on the next available working day Tuesday the 28th of August.

Customers should be aware that Bank Holidays are not counted as working days by Royal Mail and any mail sent over the Bank Holiday period is likely to take a few days extra to arrive at the destination.

Please be aware that the current weather conditions in northwest United States are currently affecting deliveries to this area. Whilst we are still mailing items to this area deliveries have been suspended in many areas due the wildfires. Further updates included a list of all the post offices that are closed and areas where deliveries are suspended can be found on the USPS website at the following link  https://about.usps.com/news/service-alerts/resident-weather-updates.htm

Royal Mail have reported delays to mail in some areas due to roadworks on the M1, M25 and M6 motorways. This is currently causing delays to some mail posted in the following postcode areas: CM, CO, SS, E, IG, RM, DH, DL, NE, SR, TS, CA and DG.

Issues at the Chester Mail Centre are also causing delays in the following postcode areas CH, LL and SY.

You can see the full article on Royal Mails website at the following link https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556/~/service-update

Monday the 28th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail postal deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper will also be closed for the Bank Holiday. All tracked items need to be submitted by our 1pm cut-off for these services on Friday the 25th of May to be posted before we close for the holiday. All other items need to be submitted before 3.30pm to be posted on the 25th of May. Any items sent after out cut-off times will be queued in our system and posted on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 29th of May.

PC2Paper will also be closed for email support during this time and will reopen on Tuesday the 29th of May.

Monday the 7th of May is a Bank Holiday meaning there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this date. Any letters sent after our 1pm cut-off for tracked services and our 3.30pm cut-off time for all other services will be sent on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 8th of May. All letters sent after cut-off times will remain queued in the system until we reopen for business on Tuesday the 8th of May. In addition to this any support tickets received during this time will be answered on the 8th of May.

PC2Paper will be closed for the Easter holiday weekend.

Friday the 30th of March and Monday the 2nd of April are Bank Holidays in the UK. On these days there are no Royal Mail deliveries and collections and the PC2Paper office is closed.

All items of mail sent after our 1pm cut off time for tracked services and 3.30pm for all other services on Thursday the 29th of March will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday the 3rd of April.

Customers should be aware that mail deliveries will take longer over the Easter Holiday due to Royal Mail not operating during the Bank Holidays or on the weekend.

With the weather conditions improving across the UK deliveries in many areas are starting to return to normal. We are still experiencing delays to mail posted over the past week as Royal Mail clear the backlog that has built up during the bad weather.

In addition to this some areas in in central parts of Scotland, south eastern parts of Wales the South West of England, Northern Ireland and some areas in South East England are still affected by bad weather and in some cases deliveries may not be made. You can see the full service update from Royal Mail at the following link https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556

We have removed the Special Delivery service from the website whilst parts of the country are still affected by snow and icy conditions. Royal Mail will currently not guarantee that Special Delivery will be delivered on the next working day. Until they reinstate their next day guarantee we feel we cannot offer the service.

We are still experiencing delays to mail deliveries in some areas. Full information of affected areas can be found on the Royal Mail website at the following link   https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556 We are still posting mail as normal but customers should expect delivery to take longer than usual.

Customers should expect delays to UK mail due to severe weather conditions. Currently the worst affected areas include Scotland, the South West and South East of England. In many areas no mail deliveries are currently taking place. Please see the following update below from Royal Mail, more information can be found on their website at the following link https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556/~/service-update?iid=PROMO_H1_SERVICEUPDATES

Thursday 1 March 2018

The severe weather conditions affecting the country are continuing to disrupt Royal Mail's services today.

Our mails distribution network was disrupted by the wintry conditions last night and this has adversely affected on the movement of mail around the country, and hence the availability of mail for delivery today in many parts.

We'll be out delivering and collecting mail today, but only in areas where access is possible and it's safe for our people to perform them.
We'll keep these pages updated with as much information about services as possible.

We're doing all we can to maintain services at a near-normal level and would like to apologise to customers whose mail deliveries and collections have been affected by the severe weather conditions.

Special Delivery Guarantee Suspended

We're sorry that we are currently unable to guarantee next day delivery of Special Delivery items posted from Thursday 1 March 2018. We continue to accept and prioritise the delivery of Special Delivery items at this time and will reinstate the delivery guarantee as soon as we are confident we can meet this service promise for all customers. We're really sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Our US based printing station is currently closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. It will be closed on the 23rd and 24th of November. During this time we will still pass mail to the US as usual but there will be delays to the service until is restarts as usual on Monday the 27th of November.

If you have mail to send to anyone serving in HM forces you might want to think about posting it soon. The last recommended Christmas posting dates are fast approaching.

Royal Mail workers have voted in favour of strike action in a disagreement over a pension deal. If the strike action does go ahead it is likely to on the 24th and 25th November one of the busiest times for Christmas deliveries. You can read the full story at the following link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41484024

Monday the 1st of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day and PC2Paper will closed for the holiday. All letters sent after our 3.30pm cut-off time on Friday the 28th of May will be queued in the system and processed on the next working day, Tuesday the 2nd of May.

In addition to this customers should expect all Royal Mail services to take longer due to the fact that Royal Mail does not deliver on Monday the 1st of May.

PC2Paper will be closed for customer support during this time, reopening as normal on Tuesday the 2nd of May.

PC2Paper is closed for the UK Bank Holidays over the Christmas and New Year period.

All Mail received after our 3.30pm cut off time on Friday the 23rd of December will be processed on the next available working day Wednesday the 28th of December. Please note the earlier 1pm cut off time for all of our signed services.

All mail received after our 3.30pm cut off time on Friday the 30th of December will be processed on the next working day Tuesday the 3rd of January. Please note the earlier 1pm cut off time for all of our signed services.

Below are the last recommended posting dates for UK Mail this Christmas. PC2Paper will continue to post mail after these dates but please be aware it might not arrive in time for Christmas delivery as the Royal Mail network is extremely busy over the Christmas period.

Latest recommended posting dates for 2016

Tuesday 20 December
2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For®

Wednesday 21 December
1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For®

Thursday 22 December
Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®

Post Office workers will start five days of strikes next week from Monday the 19th of December until Christmas Eve. The good new is that letters sent via the PC2Paper service will not be affected by these strikes so you can continue to send you mail as normal.

PC2Paper also offers the Signed For and Special Delivery services available from your Post Office counter so you can still use us as an alternative whilst the Post Office is not operating. We think you will find it so easy that you might just continue to use our service rather than waiting in the Post Office queue. Just remember we have 1pm cut-off for our signed services to ensure they are posted the same working day.

The last recommended Christmas posting dates for international mail are as follows:

Mail posted after these dates will still be processed but Christmas delivery cannot be guaranteed.

Please be aware that our USA printing station is currently closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday on the 24th and 25th of November. They will reopen as normal on the 28th of November. Any US based mail sent during this time will be sent to our printing station as normal for processing on Monday the 28th of November.

Our USA based printing station is closed today for the 4th of July public holiday. We are continuing to send mail to the USA as normal for processing, however, customers should be aware no mail will enter the US postal system until our printing station reopens on the 5th of July.

Monday the 30th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. As a result there are no postal collections or deliveries on this day. The PC2Paper office will be closed for the holiday. Any letters sent after our 3.30pm cut-off time on Friday the 27th of May will be queued and processed the next available working day Tuesday the 31st of May. Customers should also expect delivery of mail to take longer as Monday is not classed as a working day.

PC2Paper is closed on Monday the 1st of May for the Bank Holiday. There are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day and customers should expect delivery to take longer over the Bank Holiday weekend. Any mail sent after our cut-off time on Friday the 29th of April will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 2nd of May.

PC2Paper will be closed on Friday the 25th of March and Monday the 28th of March for the Easter bank Holidays. On these days there are no Royal Mail postal deliveries or collections. Any letters received after our cut off time on Thursday the 24th of March will be queued and processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 29th of April. Customers should accept all mail deliveries to take longer to arrive over this period.

PC2Paper would like to wish all our customers a happy Easter.

Firstly I will start this article by being honest with a disclaimer. We process mail and have done so for nearly 15 years now sending our customers postal mail through our website www.pc2paper.co.uk basically you send your postal mail via our website or using our email gateway and we send it on your behalf. For a large part of that time we used Royal Mail SmartStamp which suited us perfectly. When Royal Mail discontinued SmartStamp it threw us a bit, however after talking to Royal Mail and based on the volumes of mail we were sending they recommended we used Printed Postage Impressions or better known as PPI Mail.

PPI Mail is great for us based on the amount of mail we send each day. However it may not be to everyone's taste as it requires considerably more paper work than SmartStamp did and you have to weigh your mail in bulk and attach dockets to it based on the types of mail you are sending. So what I have done is listed out what solutions are available below.

DMO (If you only send parcels)
If you only send parcels, you are in luck. Royal Mail have a service called Despatch Manager Online or DMO for short. From what we can see your only outlay would be for a printer you can purchase from Royal Mail for printing out the labels (I believe it is £150). You select your postage online and print out the labels for your parcels. This is paid for by keeping a credit account with Royal Mail. You could in theory send letters via this service however the labels are quite large and may no suit the aesthetics of how you would like your mail to look.

Franking
Franking has been around for a long time and usually provides a much cheaper postage price and looks rather professional, it can also be used for letters and parcels. However we have always been put off by the hidden costs involved with Franking, these have been.

• Machine rental costs/ or purchase cost
• Top up costs (some providers will charge you per top up cost)
• Maintenance/recalibration costs
• Ink costs (many of the machines require specialist ink you can only purchase from the provider)

Note that not all franking providers will have the same fees mentioned above or charge for the same things, the above is a list of the ones we have discovered from various providers or from customers who have spoken to us. If going with a franking provider we recommend you ask about those costs and go over the contract carefully with the sales person.

PPI Mail
This is one of our favourites as we have mentioned earlier it does require a lot more paper work than SmartStamp did, here is a list of the key points

• You will be billed every 30 days for the postage you use
• You will need an Online Business Account
• You place Printed Postage Impressions on your mail with your licence number. This is basically the postage stamp on your mail. You may have seen these types of stamps when your electricity or gas bill is delivered by post.
• You will need to weigh your mail by different types and work out the amount of items you are sending and average weight.
• You will need to prepare paper work from Royal Mails portal with the information mentioned in the last step to prepare your mail for collection (if your post is collected) or for taking to the post office.

For more information on PPI you can visit Royal Mails website. They will also be happy to talk you through what is required.

The above may seem daunting at first but after a while it becomes easier as you learn the process.

Online Letter Sending Services
As I said in my disclaimer above, we are an online letter sender. Online letter sending will not work for you if you need to send parcels. But if you only send letters this may be something you may consider. We are not the only online letter sending service although we have been around for a while we focus more on the types of mailings that other online letter sending services don't do such as Recorded Mail, Special Delivery, large letter sending and non machines marked or windowless mail.

If you would like to try us out this is our website www.pc2paper.co.uk . There is no contract, all that is required is to sign-up for an account online place some credit in your account and send a letter using either.

• Our website
• Our virtual printer driver (windows 7 only)
• Our email to letter gateway
• Our APIs

You can write your letter online. Or if you prefer writing your mail in MS Word for example you can save your letter as a PDF in MS Word and send it via our service.

I hope the above has provided some information for people who are looking for alternatives to SmartStamp.

Latest Recommended Posting Dates
Today, Thursday 17 December is the latest recommended posting date for International Standard to France. Tomorrow, Friday 18 December, is the latest posting date for mail to Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The latest recommended posting dates for IUK standard Second Class mail is this Saturday - 19 December. The latest date for First Class mail is Monday 21 December.

PC2Paper will be closed for some of the Christmas period. Our offices will be closed Thursday the 24th of December, Friday the 25th of December, Monday the 28th of December and Friday the 31st of December. In addition to this we are closed at the weekend as normal.

All mail sent after 3.30pm on Wednesday the 23rd of December will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 29th of December.

All mail sent after 3.30pm on Wednesday the 30th of December will be processed on the next available working day Monday the 4th of January.

Any mail sent during the days that we are closed will be queued in our system and processed as normal once we reopen.

Royal Mail are to close their SmartStamp service on 31st December 2015. Customers might be aware that we currently use this service to print our postage onto the envelopes. We are currently testing PPI alongside Smartstamp with a view to moving over to it within the next few weeks. Customers should see no interruption to the service.

Please find the last Royal Mail posting dates for Airmail services:

Friday 4 December: Africa, Middle East
Monday 7 December: Asia, Cyprus, Far East, Japan, Eastern Europe (ex. Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia
Tuesday 8 December: Caribbean, Central & South America
Thursday 10 December: Greece, Australia, New Zealand
Monday 14 December: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland
Tuesday 15 December: Canada, Finland, Sweden, USA
Wednesday 16 December: Austria, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain
Thursday 17 December: France
Friday 18 December: Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland

Last recommended posting dates for the UK are as follows:

Saturday 19 December: 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For®

Monday 21 December: 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For®

Wednesday 23 December: Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed®

Monday the 31st of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. As a result of the holiday there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper is also closed. Any letters submitted to us after our 3.30pm cut off time on Friday the 28th of August will be queued in the system and posted on the next working day Tuesday the 1st of September. Customer should expect mail deliveries to take longer that usual due to the Bank Holiday.

Monday the 25th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. As a result there will be no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. The PC2Paper office will also be closed. Any mail sent after our cut-off time on Friday the 22nd of May will be processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 26th of May.

Monday the 4th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. As a result of this there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. Any letters sent after our 4pm cut off on Friday the 1st of May will be processed on the next available working day, Tuesday the 5th of May. Until then they will remain queued in our system. PC2Paper will also be closed for the long weekend. Any email queries will be dealt with when we reopen on Tuesday the 5th of May.

The 3rd of April (Good Friday) and the 6th of April (Easter Monday) are public holidays. As a result there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on these days. Any mail submitted to us after our 4pm cut off time on Thursday the 2nd of April will be sent on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 7th of April. In addition to this the PC2Paper office is closed for the Easter weekend.

Stamp prices will be increasing from the 30th of March. PC2Paper will increase all our prices in line with the new prices.

PC2Paper will be closed on:
Christmas Eve 24th December
Christmas Day 25th December
Boxing Day 26th of December
New Years Eve 31st of December
New Years Day 1st of January

Any mail sent after 4pm on Tuesday the 23rd of December will be processed on the next working day Monday the 29th of December.

Any Mail Sent after 4pm on Tuesday the 30th of December will be processed on the next working day Friday the 2nd of January.

The last UK posting dates for Christmas are as follows:

Thursday 18 December 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For
Saturday 20 December 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For
Tuesday 23 December Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed

The last Christmas posting dates for overseas mail are as follows:

Wednesday 3 December Asia, Far East (including Japan), New Zealand
Thursday 4 December Australia
Friday 5 December Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East
Monday 8 December Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Greece
Tuesday 9 December Canada, Poland
Friday 12 December USA
Saturday 13 December Western Europe (excluding Greece, Poland)

Monday the 26th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no postal collections or deliveries on this day and the PC2Paper office will be closed. Any letters sent after our 4pm cut-off on Friday the 23rd of May will be sent on the next available working day, Tuesday the 27th of May. Letters sent after the cut-off time will be queued in our system until they can be processed.

Royal Mail prices will be going up at the beginning of next week. PC2Paper will increase its prices in line with the Royal Mail increase.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Monday the 27th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK. We do not have any Royal Mail collections of deliveries on this day and the PC2Paper office is closed. Any letters sent after our 4pm cut-off time on Friday the 24th of May will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday the 28th of May. Customers should also be aware that mail may take longer to be delivered over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Monday the 6th of May is a Bank Holiday within the UK so we have no mail deliveries or postal collections on this day. Any mail sent after our 4pm cut-off time on Friday the 3rd of May will be processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 7th of May.

As of today (2nd of April) the prices have increased for some Royal Mail services. These include Recorded and Special Delivery, International Signed delivery and Airmail. PC2Paper have increased our prices of these items to take into account the increases.

Weather conditions are starting to improve and Royal Mail have reinstated their collections in our area. We have now put the tracked services including Recorded Delivery, Special Delivery and International Signed For, delivery back on the website.

We are currently experiencing delays to all UK mail due to severe weather conditions in our local area. The weather conditions are currently affecting the Royal Mail service which collects from businesses and post boxes. Currently the collections vans are unable to come out to collect mail so there will be some delay in it entering the postal system. We are still processing as normal, but have removed any tracked services until the weather conditions improve. Customers should expect delivery to take longer until further notice.

It has been necessary to temporarily suspend the tracked services options, including Special Delivery, Recorded Delivery and International Signed For, due to bad weather conditions. We currently cannot guarantee that these services will be collected at the normal time so have suspended them until weather conditions improve. We will be reviewing this situation on a daily basis and hope to have the services back as normal as soon as the weather improves.

The United States Postal Service have recently increased their postal prices. PC2Paper have increased our prices accordingly to take into account the changes.

We have now reinstated the tracked service options for UK destinations as improvements in the local weather conditions mean our postal collections are now operating normally. All mail is now being passed to the postal service at close of business as normal. Customers may still experience some delays using these services and in some areas Royal Mail are still not guaranteeing the Special Next Day option due to bad weather conditions. Customers are advised to check the status of the service in the recipients area before sending. Updates are available from Royal Mail at the following link.

We are currently experiencing disruption to services due to snow in the UK. As a result we are unable to guarantee Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery services at this time and have temporarily removed them from the website. We will restore these services as soon as the Royal Mail service is back to normal in our local area.

Customers should be aware that any mail sent from Friday 18th of January is subject to delays. This includes any mail posted by Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery which is likely to take longer than usual. Unfortunately we are unable to guarantee that Royal Mail will deliver any Special Delivery items on the next working day at this time. Customers should allow extra time for delivery of all UK mail until weather conditions start to improve. We apologise for any inconvenience caused, unfortunately these delays are due to factors that are beyond our control.

Royal Mail have recently released some new stamps to make the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. The stamps which went on sale on the 9th of January include 10 different images charting a timeline of developments on the tube.

PC2Paper is closed on Tuesday the 1st of January as it is a public holiday. Any mail received after our cut-off time of 4pm after Monday the 31st of December will be processed on the next available working day which is Wednesday the 2nd of January.

PC2Paper is closed on Christmas Day 25th of December and Boxing Day 26th of December. Any mail received after our 4pm cut-off time of Monday the 24th of December will be posted on the next working day which is Thursday the 27th of December.

The last recommended posting date for second class mail has now passed. The last recommended posting date for first class mail is the 20th of December. Special Delivery items can be posted up until the 21st of December. Please note that any Special Delivery items received after our 4pm cut-off time on Friday the 21st of December will not be processed in time for Christmas Delivery.

The last posting dates for Christmas delivery are fast approaching. Royal Mail recommend that 2nd class letters are posted by the 18th of December. First Class mail should be sent no later than the 20th of December and Special Delivery items can be sent up to the 22nd of December. Please note as the 22nd falls on a Saturday PC2Paper recommend sending any Special Delivery items before close of business on Friday the 21st of December for Christmas delivery. All mail sent after the last recommended posting dates will still be mailed as usual, however, customers should be aware that delivery during the Christmas period will take longer due to the large volume of mail in the system.

With Christmas fast approaching Royal Mail have published the last Christmas posting dates on their website. It might seem a long way off but it's worth planning ahead and getting your cards in the post early particularly for overseas destinations. The posting dates are in full below on at the following link. http://www.royalmail.com/greetings

UK

Thursday 13 December
Standard and Mail Order Return Parcels

Tuesday 18 December
Second Class and Recorded Signed ForT

Thursday 20 December
First Class and Recorded Signed ForT

Special DeliveryT

Friday 21 December
Special DeliveryT with Saturday Guaranteed

Saturday 22 December
Special DeliveryT

International Surface Mail

Friday 28 September
Africa, Asia, Australia, Caribbean, Central America, New Zealand and South America

Tuesday 2 October
Far East (except Hong Kong and Singapore), Middle East

Tuesday 16 October
Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and USA

Tuesday 6 November
Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Greece, Iceland, Malta and Turkey

Tuesday 20 November
Western Europe

International Airmail

Wednesday 5 December
Asia, Australia, Far East (including Japan), New Zealand

Friday 7 December
Africa, Caribbean, Central America, Middle East and South America

Monday 10 December
Canada, Eastern Europe and USA

Wednesday 12 December
Western Europe

British Forces Post Office (BFPO)

Friday 30 November
Airmail to Operational BFPOs

Friday 14 December
Airmail to Static BFPOs

Monday the 27th of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail postage collections or deliveries on this day. Any mail sent after our 4pm cut off time on Friday the 24th of August will be queued and processed on the next available working day, Tuesday the 28th of August. The PC2Paper office is also closed during this time and any email queries received will be answered when we reopen on Tuesday the 28th of August.

Royal Mail have made some amendments to their terms and conditions to cover mail sent during the Olympic Games. this is due to some additional transport and travel restrictions that are in place during the games. During this time any Special Delivery items should still arrive on the next working day, however, they are not guaranteed by 1pm in certain areas for the duration of the games. Postcodes affected are E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W and WC. Special Delivery items for the rest of the UK remain unaffected and are still guaranteed for next day delivery by 1pm as normal.

Customers living in London may also receive their post earlier or later in the day, in order to work around transport restrictions. There may also be some delays to services in local areas as the Olympic torch relay passes through them. You can check what's happening every day on the Royal Mail website at the following link.

This weekend there is an extended holiday in the UK due to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. Monday the 4th of June and Tuesday the 5th of June are both public holidays. There are no postal deliveries or collections on these days and the PC2Paper office will be closed. All mail sent after our 4pm cut off time on Friday the 1st of June will be sent on the next available working day Wednesday the 6th of June. Customers should also allow longer for post to reach it's destination as a result of the holiday.

Monday the 7th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK meaning there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper is also closed for the day. Any mail received after our 4pm cut off time on Friday the 4th of May will be sent on the available working day, Tuesday the 8th of May. Customers should also expect delivery to take longer due to the holiday.

Due to the Easter Holidays there are no Royal Mail collections or deliveries on Good Friday and Easter Monday. During this time PC2Paper will also be closed. Any mail received by us after our 4pm cut off time on Thursday the 5th of April will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday the 10th of April. All mail sent over the Easter weekend will remain queued in our system for sending when we reopen.

It has been announced today that Royal Mail intend to increase stamp prices dramatically. The price of a first stamp will increase from 46p to 60p whilst a second class stamp will increase from 36p to 50p. The increases come as the regulator has allowed Royal Mail to set the prices of first class and business mail. The prices are set to go up from the 30th of April. PC2Paper will be increasing our postage prices in line with the Royal Mail increases once they come into force

That's according to this article which claims Royal Mail is looking to increase the price of 2nd class mail dramatically. If the rise goes ahead customer could find that the cost of a 2nd class stamp increases from 36p to 55p. Royal Mail have been criticised for the planned rise but have insisted that the increase was still affordable for vulnerable groups of people. The postal regulator Ofcom is now considering the request and will decide whether it will go ahead within the next few weeks.

PC2paper will be closed during the bank Holidays after the Christmas period. During this time any mail received will be queued in our system and processed on the next available working day. We are closed on Monday the 26th of December and Tuesday the 27th of December. All mail received after our 4pm cut off time on Friday 23rd of December will be processed on Wednesday the 28th of December.

New Years Delivery Dates

In addition to the above dates PC2Paper is also closed on Monday the 2nd of January for the bank Holiday. Any mail received after 4pm on Friday the 30th of December will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 3rd of December.

Today is the last recommended posting date for 1st class mail before Christmas. Any mail received by PC2paper after this date will still be processed as normal but may now be received after Christmas. We would like to remind customers that the overseas mailing dates for Christmas delivery have also now passed and that mail for these destinations will now be received in the New Year.

The last guaranteed posting dates for UK mail are fast approaching. Customers should post any Second Class UK mail before close of business on Friday the 16th of December to ensure it leaves us before the last Royal Mail posting of Saturday the 17th of December. First Class mail should be posted by Tuesday the 20th of December in order to be delivered in time for Christmas. PC2Paper will continue to process all mail posted after these dates but Christmas delivery cannot be guaranteed.

We have now added the Recorded Delivery and Special Delivery options back on the website. It was necessary for us to remove these temporarily due to a problem with our online postage provider Royal Mail which meant we could not process these options. This has now been resolved.

Our US printing station will be closed on Thursday the 24th and Friday the 25th of November for the Thanksgiving holiday. During this time we will continue to pass all US mail to our printing station for posting, however, customers should be aware that no mail will actually leave the printing station on these days. Normal service will be resumed on Monday the 28th of November.

It has been necessary to temporarily remove the Recorded and Special Delivery options from our website. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, this is due to a problem with our external postage provider. We will reinstate these services as soon as it is possible to do so.

The last recommended posting dates for Christmas are fast approaching for some destinations. The last posting dates for International Airmail are as follows:

Mail for South & Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (including Japan), Australia and New Zealand should be posted by Monday 5th of December.

Mail for Eastern Europe, the USA and Canada should be posted by Friday 9th of December.

Mail for Western Europe should be posted by Monday 12th of December.

Customers should also be aware of the last UK posting dates as follows:

Sat 17th December for Second Class and Recorded Signed For

Tue 20th December for First Class and Recorded Signed For

Thu 22nd December Special Delivery

PC2Paper have recently launched a Priority Mail service for US mail. The service will be offered alongside the existing Certified Mail service. We have taken the decision to add the Priority Mail service because it not only offers a faster delivery option than Certified Mail which is sent via 1st class mail, it also offers a better form of tracking your mail. As always the service is dependant on the delivery conditions in the local delivery area but we would normally expect Priority Mail to be delivered within 1-2 working days of being passed to our overseas printing partner. You can find this service available from the extras menu when you are sending a letter from the USA printing station. We welcome any feedback from customers on what they think of the service.

Monday the 29th of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. There are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper is also closed for the day. Any mail sent after close of business (5pm) on Friday the 26th of August will be queued and processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 30th of August. Customers should also expect any UK mail sent 1-2 days previously to this date to take an extra day or two to progress through the Royal Mail system.

Canadian postal workers have now returned to work following the recent postal strikes . Customers should be aware, however, that Canada Post are still working to clear the backlog caused the strike and as result delays are still to be expected to all Canadian bound mail. Canada Post have suspended their service guarantees during this time.

Mail services in Canada have been suspended due to an on-going industrial dispute which has already been causing delays to mail in some areas. Due to this dispute Canada post has now suspended all mail operations across the country. Mail sent since the 10th of June is likely to be affected by this and will be subject to delays. Any mail already in the system is being retained until clearance is given by Canada Post that it can be accepted for delivery. Mail bound for the UK from Canada will also not be dispatched at present. Customer should expect delays to all Canadian bound mail during this time.

The latest stamps released from Royal Mail will feature popular characters from the children's TV series Thomas the Tank Engine. The characters from the series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends were created by the Reverend W Awdry. Thomas will feature on the 1st class stamp, James on the 68p stamp, Percy on the 76p stamp and Daisy on the £1.00 stamps. The stamps will be available from the 14th of June.

Monday the 30th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK meaning there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper will also be closed on this day. All letters sent after our 4pm cut off time on Friday the 27th of May will be queued in our system and passed to Royal Mail as normal on the next available working day Tuesday the 31st of May.

Friday the 29th of April is a public holiday due to the Royal wedding taking place. As a result of this there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. All mail received in the PC2Paper system after our 4pm cut off will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday the 3rd of May. Monday the 2nd of May is also a Bank holiday in the UK. There are also no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. PC2Paper will be closed from close of business on the 28th of April and will be open as normal on Tuesday the 3rd of May. During this time all mail received in our systems will be queued and processed when we reopen.

Friday the 22nd of April and Monday the 25th of April are public holidays in the UK. During these days there are no Royal Mail collections or deliveries. Any mail sent after close of business (4pm) on Thursday the 23rd of April will be queued in the PC2Paper system and processed on the next available working day which is Tuesday 26th April. Customers should also be aware that letters will take longer to reach their destinations during this time. Any customer queries received during this time will also be answered when we reopen on Tuesday the 23rd of April.

Royal Mail are increasing their postage prices from the 4th of April 2011. As a result of this increase PC2Paper prices will increase accordingly. The postage price for first class mail up to 100g will increase to 46p whilst second class mail will increase to 36p. The cost of a Large Letter stamp will rise to 75p for first class items and 58p for second class items. In order to take into account these increases PC2Paper prices will rise after close of business on Friday 1st of April for all mail sent on the next working day Monday the 4th of April.

Royal Mail have recently released some new stamps featuring characters from myths and legends. The Magical Realms issue was released on the 9th of May and features characters from the legends of King Arthur, the Narnia stories of CS Lewis, JK Rowling's Harry Potter series and the Discworld of Sir Terry Pratchett. The 1st class stamps are available featuring Rincewind, Nanny Ogg, Dumbledore and Voldemort. Merlin and Morgan le Fay feature on the 60p stamp and Aslan and The White Witch feature on the 97p stamp.

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.

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 Royal Mail posting dates for Christmas will soon be approaching for some destinations. The dates are as follows:

International Airmail

• Monday 6 Dec: South and Central America, Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, Asia, Far East (inc Japan), Australia and New Zealand.
• Friday 10th of December: Eastern Europe, USA and Canada.
• Monday 13th of December: Western Europe.

UK Mail

• Wednesday 15th of December: Standard parcels.
• Saturday 18th of December: Second Class and Second Class Recorded Signed For.
• Tuesday 21st December: First Class and First Class Recorded Signed For.
• Wednesday 22nd December: Parcelforce 48
• Thursday 23rd December: Parcelforce Next Day
• Thursday 23rd December: Special Delivery

PC2Paper will still post mail as normal after the last posting have passed but customers should be aware that Christmas delivery can not be guaranteed after these dates. Customers should also expect mail to take longer to be delivered over the extremely busy Christmas period.

Very high winds in many parts of the UK last night, caused the cancellation of a number of air services that Royal Mail uses to transport mail to and from some parts of the country. Air services in and out of airports in Belfast, Exeter, Newcastle, Stansted, East Midlands and the Isle of Man were subject to some disruption. As a result of the disruption and other weather related transport issues, there is likely to be some impact to mail travelling between the more distant parts of the country due for delivery today. All mail received by PC2Paper will still be processed as normal but customers should expect delivery to take longer in some areas.

According to this article Royal Mail is launching a trial of evening deliveries in some areas. Customers who live within the M25 motorway will be able to order goods from House of Fraser and L'Occitane and choose an evening delivery time. Items will be delivered between 6pm and 10pm rather than during the normal working day. The move comes after a recent study by Royal Mail found more people would shop online if they could choose a more flexible delivery option. Royal Mail is also in talks with other retailers about the possibility of joining the trial scheme. It certainly is interesting and something I would take advantage of if it were available in my area.

Royal Mail has recently launched some new stamps featuring some of the best loved characters from Winnie the Pooh. The stamps feature EH Shepard's original illustrations of Winnie the Pooh and include Christoper Robin, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo. You can purchase them online from Royal Mail.

The latest set of stamps to be issued by Royal Mail feature important Medical Breakthroughs. The stamps which are due to be released on the 16th of September feature medical imagery which illustrates six selected breakthrough. They include beta blockers, penicillin, hip replacements, artificial lens implants, malaria parasites and CT scanners.

Due to Monday the 31st of May being a Bank Holiday in the UK there are no Royal Mail deliveries or collections on this day. Any mail received after our cut off time of 4pm on Friday the 28th of May will be sent on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 1st of June. This applies to all mail including mail sent using Special Next Day Delivery.

Royal Mail have launched some new stamps to celebrate the war effort of 1940's Britain. The stamps called Britain Alone are dedicated to all the people that came together to do their bit for the war effort. The first class stamp features Sir Winston Churchill, the 67p stamps features air raid wardens. The Home Guard are celebrated on the 60p stamp. Land Girls, women in factories, the fire service, the Royal broadcast and evacuees make up the rest of the set. The stamps were released on the 13th of May.

Due to Monday the 3rd of May being a Bank Holiday in the UK there are no business collections or Royal Mail deliveries on this day. Any letters received through the PC2Paper website after our 4pm cut off time on Friday the 30th of April will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday the 4th of May. All mail received after our cut off time on the Friday will remain queued in our system until the 4th of May. This includes any Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery items.

Royal Mail has recently launched some new stamps which feature  ten of our endangered indigenous mammals. The stamps which were launched on the 13th of April feature the humpback whale, wildcat, brown long eared bat, polecat, sperm whale, water vole, greater horseshoe bat, otter, dormouse and hedgehog. The stamps are being backed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust which has seen some success with its conservation programs providing better protection for otters in their local area.

As of the 6th of April PC2Paper has increased it's postage prices to take into account the increase in Royal Mail Prices. A 1 page letter sent via our services with standard printing option will now cost 65p sent via 1st class mail and 56p sent via 2nd class mail. Prices for overseas mail sent from the UK have also gone up to take into account the Royal Mail price increases.

Friday the 2nd of April and Monday the 5th of April are public holidays within the UK. There are no postal deliveries or collection on these days. All letters sent after 4pm on Thursday the 1st of April will be processed and posted on the next available working day which is Tuesday the 6th of April. Any letters sent during this time will remain in your "waiting to be sent" queue until Tuesday the 6th of April. In addition to this customers should be aware that any letters sent using the Special Next Day Delivery service after close of business (5pm UK time) on Wednesday the 31st of March will arrive on the next working day which is Tuesday the 6th of April.

Royal Mail have recently launched some new stamps which feature Kings and Queens from the House of Stewart. Pictured is the first class stamp which depicts James I who reigned from 1406 to 1437. James II and James III also feature on the first class stamps. James IV and James V are pictured on the 62p stamps and Mary Queen of Scots and James VI are pictured on the 91p stamps. They are available to purchase from this week.

Royal Mail have recently launched some new stamps to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Battersea Dog and cats home. The stamps feature a number of animals that have been re-homed by the organisation over the years.

A detail in the recent agreement between Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Unions will mean that they are no longer limited to delivering just three items of junk mail per household. This could mean that there will a sharp rise in the amount of junk mail that Royal Mail customers receive. If you want to cut down on the amount junk mail that you are getting this article has some useful tips. It suggests sending an email to optout@royalmail.co.uk with your name and address stating that you do not want to receive door to door mail. Writing to your local delivery office telling them to end deliveries of unaddressed mail and registering with the Mailing Preferences Service as just some of the ways to cut your junk mail mountain.

Royal Mail has launched a new set of stamps to celebrate the Royal Society's 350th anniversary. The set of 10 stamps show some famous figures from the world's oldest science academy. They include Sir Isaac Newton, physicist and optical pioneer; Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning conductor; Edward Jenner, inventor of vaccination; Charles Babbage, developer of programmable computers; Alfred Russel Wallace, pioneer of evolution theory; Joseph Lister, inventor of antiseptic surgery; Ernest Rutherford, founding father of nuclear physics; Dorothy Hodgkin, inventor of x-ray crystallography; and Sir Nicholas Shackleton, pioneer of climate research.

Heavy snow across the UK is currently causing delays to mail in many areas. Customers should expect mail deliveries to take longer during the adverse weather conditions. Rural areas are particularly affected.

Royal Mail have recently launched a new series of stamps featuring famous album covers. The stamps should start appearing on mail within the next week and feature 10 different album covers. These include Pink Floyd's The Division Bell, Coldplay's A Rush of Blood to the Head, Primal Scream's Screamadelica, Blur's Parklife, New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies, the Stones' Let It Bleed, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Led Zeppelin's fourth (untitled) album, and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

Any mail sent after 4pm on Thursday the 24th of December will be sent on the available working day Tuesday the 29th of December. Christmas Day and Monday the 28th of December are public holidays and there is no postal service available on these days. Any mail sent after close of business will be queued in our system and processed on the next available working day. PC2Paper would like to take this opportunity to wish all our customers a happy Christmas and best wishes for the new year.

According to this article the recent postal strikes have delayed around 30 million letters that's about 40% of a normal days post. The situation could become worse as further strikes are planned for next week and will go ahead on Thursday, Friday and Saturday unless an agreement is reached. Although Royal Mail hopes to clear the backlog of letters and parcels before further strike action takes place, customers should expect further delays to mail and during this time we regret that we are unable to guarantee any delivery times.

We are currently experiencing nationwide postal strikes within the UK. This will mean that mail sent from our UK based station on Thursday the 22nd of October and Friday 23rd of October will not enter the postal system until Monday the 26th of October when the strikes end. Mail sent after these dates is also likely to be subject to delays as postal staff work to clear the backlog caused by strike action. Customers should be aware that all mail sent from the UK is likely to be subject to severe delays during this time. Mail sent from our other printing stations will remain unaffected.

The Communication Workers Union have confirmed that a nationwide strike will go ahead. There will be two 24 hours strikes starting on Thursday the 22nd of October. On the first day mail centre staff and drivers will strike and on the second delivery and collection staff will walk out. The union says that it has no choice but to go ahead with the strike action after Royal Mail rejected its latest set of proposals. Talks are still continuing and it is hoped that strike action could still be avoided. PC2Paper will continue to update customers on the latest news regarding any strike action. Customers should be aware that if action does ahead as planned it will cause delays to all post sent from our UK based printing station.

The Communication Workers Union has said that postal strikes could begin on the 22nd of October if an agreement is not reached. The union has called on Royal Mail to agree a last minute peace plan otherwise strike action will be announce. The CWU will announce the proposed strike dates on Thursday the 15th of October if talks to avert the strikes are not successful.

Customers should expect delays to post in the Cambridgeshire area after a 24 hour postal strike. Workers have been striking in a dispute with Royal Mail over national agreements. Staff at delivery office in Ely, Cambridge, Haddeham, Iselham and Soham have been on strike. Mail to these areas is likely to be subject to delays.

Monday the 31st of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK meaning there are no deliveries or collections on this day. Any mail sent after close of business (5pm) on Friday 28th of August will be sent on the next available working day Tuesday 1st of September.

Royal Mail workers have started further strikes over a disagreement regarding job cuts. The strikes will run from the 17th to the 24th of August and have already began in Coventry, London, Leamington Spa, Nottingham and Stoke on Trent. We are expecting mail to the affected areas to be delayed and customers should be aware that mail delivery will take longer than usual. During this time PC2Paper collections are unaffected and we will still mail letters as normal, however, delivery times will be affected. The Strikes take place in London, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Nottingham, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Essex, Peterborough, Bristol, Leeds, Kings Lynn, Boston, Carrickfergus, Skegness and Huntington.

PC2Paper are currently relocating our UK office. We regret that during this busy time it has been necessary to remove the Recorded Delivery, Special Delivery and International Signed For options. All our services are still available as usual. We hope to have completed our office move by Monday the 21st of July and expect all services to be running normally again at this time. All mail sent from our other printing stations during this period will be unaffected.

Deliveries to London and parts of Scotland are likely to be affected by a two day strike action by postal workers in these areas. The Communications Workers Unions has said that thousands of its members in London and Edinburgh will walk out today in a dispute over jobs and services. In addition workers in parts of Scotland will strike on Saturdays. During the planned strikes PC2Paper will still send your mail as usual as usual, however, customers should be aware that delivery times in the affected areas will take longer and there are likely be delays of several days on normal delivery times.

A set of new stamps have been launched by Royal Mail that feature mythical creatures. The stamps include a fire breathing dragon, a giant carrying a bolder, a grey unicorn, a mermaid and a pixie riding a snail. They have been designed by artist Dave McKean and novelist Neil Gaiman. The aim of the new stamps was to bring together some of the well known characters from ancient folklore and legend. Pictured are two of the designs for the 1st class stamps.

Royal Mail has launched a tamper proof stamp which should stop people pealing off old stamps and reusing them. The problem whilst it might seem minor costs Royal Mail tens of thousands of pounds every year. Although stamps are franked when they go through the sorting office, the markings on them are not always noticeable and often stamps with little markings on them are peeled off and used again. The new stamps, however, should make it impossible to reuse them. They have two oblong strips on either side of the stamp so that when the stamp is peeled off the strips are left behind. This leaves a useless stamp with two holes in it which should now be unusable.

Monday the 4th of May is a Bank Holiday in the UK meaning there are no collection or deliveries on this day. Any mail received after close of business (5pm) on Friday the 1st of May will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 5th of May.

Due to public holidays in the UK there are no mail deliveries or collections on Friday the 10th of April and Monday 14th of April. Any mail sent after close of business (5pm UK time) on Thursday the 9th of April will be processed on the next available working day Tuesday 15th of April. Any Recorded/Signed For and Special Delivery Mail received after 1pm on Thursday the 9th of April will also be processed on the next available working day Tuesday the 15th of April.

PC2Paper prices for UK and international mail sent from the UK will increase from the 6th of April. This is due to Royal Mail prices increases which come into effect on the same day and mean that we need to pass these increases onto our customers.

Royal Mail are currently experiencing delays to deliveries in Staffordshire due to a rooftop protest at the sorting office in Burslem. Deliveries in the ST6 1 to ST6 8 areas are likely to experience delays and disruption to mail deliveries. During this time mail deliveries to this area is likely to take longer than usual.

How do I send Recorded Signed For mail from PC2Paper?
After writing your letter in the normal way you can select the Recorded Delivery option from the extras drop down menu.

How is my Recorded Signed For letter processed after I have sent it?
Your letter will then be printed and posted in the usual way and then passed to Royal Mail for delivery. PC2Paper then receive a tracking number.

When do I receive my tracking number?
Within 24 hours you should then receive an email from PC2Paper with your Royal Mail tracking number.

How do I track the progress of my Recorded Signed For letter
You can use your tracking number at www.royalmail.com to check when your letter has been delivered and to see a copy of any signature that has been obtained on delivery.

What happens if my letter cannot be delivered?
If Royal Mail are unable to deliver your Recorded Signed For item and it remains unclaimed from the local delivery office it will be returned to the return address within 7 days with a reason why it could not be delivered. For this to happen the return address needs to a valid UK based address. Where no return address has been specified the letter is destroyed by Royal Mail.

What happens if my return address is not in the UK?
If you want to send a Recorded Signed For item and add a return address that is outside of the UK then it is not possible for Royal Mail to return the item outside of the UK. In this case the letter is destroyed. If you are outside the UK and want to use this option we recommend signing up for a PC2Paper mailbox which gives you a UK based address and using this as your return address. The letter will then be returned to us and we will notify you by email.

What happens if my letter is lost?
Royal Mail does not consider mail to be lost until 15 working days after it has been posted. If after this time your Recorded Signed For item has not been delivered you should contact PC2Paper giving the letter ID. We will then raise a claim for the lost item and providing that the letter was addressed correctly and the claim is successful we will then reimburse you for the cost of the lost letter.

Due to heavy snow in the South East of England some areas are experiencing delivery delays. During this time we will continue to send all letters but customers should be aware that in many areas deliveries have been suspended and that letters will take longer to arrive. Affected areas include parts of Kent, Surrey, Suffolk, Berkshire and Bedfordshire.

We are currently experiencing some delays to US mail sent via our USA printing station due to adverse weather conditions in the area. During this time letters sent via the US printing station may experience some delay. In addition to this it may take slightly longer than the usual 24 hours period before customers receive tracking numbers for certified mail.

Royal Mail is to launch a campaign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the postcode in the hope that it will stress the importance of using it. According to this article around a fifth of non business letters are sent without a full postcode. This is despite the fact that mail that includes a postcode is processed much more quickly as it can be sorted by machinery rather than by hand. At PC2Paper when we receive queries about undelivered letters we find that the majority of these have been incorrectly addressed or are missing a postcode so have not reached their destination. The message is clear, in order to help your letter reach the recipient use a full address and include a postcode.

There are no postage collections on Wednesday the 31st of December and Thursday the 1st of January. Any mail sent after close of business on Tuesday 30th of December will be processed on the next available working day Friday 2nd of December.

Please note that we are closed on the 25th and 26th of December. Any mail received after 5pm on the 24th of December will be processed on the next available working day, Monday 29th of December. Customers should also note that delivery over the Christmas period can take longer than usual and allow more time when sending time sensitive documents.

We are unable to offer Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery after 5pm on the 22 December due to the fact that there are no postal collections until Monday the 29th of December. This option has been disabled during this period but will be available again as soon as postal collections resume.

The last guaranteed posting dates for Christmas have now passed for all destinations. All mail received will still be processed and sent as usual but is now likely to arrive after Christmas. No mail will be processed on the 25th and 26th of December and the 1st of January as there are no collections/deliveries on these days. PC2paper would like to wish all our customers a happy Christmas.

Postmen is Bridgwater have voted for strike action in a dispute over working hours. Staff voted to hold up to three one day strikes before Christmas in a dispute over part time working. The first strike will be held on the 20th of December with no further dates having been authorised as yet. The workers are in dispute over plans to replace full time jobs with part time roles. During the strikes there is likely to be delays to mail in the local area.

Monday the 25th of August is a Bank Holiday in the UK. This means that there is no postal collection or deliveries on this day. Any mail sent after 5pm (UK time) close of business on Friday 22nd of August will be processed on the next available working day, Tuesday the 26th of August. Any Special Delivery or Recorded Delivery items sent after 1pm (UK time) on Friday the 22nd of August will be processed on Tuesday the 26th of August. Customers should also be aware that delivery of mail during this time may take up to 2 days longer than normal.

At PC2Paper we usually experience a very good service from Royal Mail with only a few letters lost in the post. It does appear, however, that some mail can take a very long time to arrive. This article highlights the case of a postcard that was delivered after 79 years. The post card was posted in 1929 in Essex and arrived at its destination last Thursday. Royal Mail have said it is difficult to determine where it has been for the last 79 years.

Monday the 26th is a Bank Holiday in the UK meaning there is no mail collections or deliveries. Any mail sent after close of business (5pm) on Friday 23rd of May will be posted on the next working day Tuesday 27th of May.

Royal Mail has announced it will introduce free postage for parcels sent to British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. A further announcement with details about when the free service will be introduced in expected shortly.