Mail, Post office in London

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The UK's mail service is called the Royal Mail. They deliver over 80 million items of mail every working day in the UK.

Letters are addressed:

Mr. Walter C. Brown (recipient)
49 Featherstone Street (street name)
LONDON (town/city)
EC1Y 8SY (postal code)
UNITED KINGDOM (country name)

Note that the return address is usually on the back of the envelope.

Prices

  • lst class mail ensures one day delivery starting at 46 pence (2011).
  • Second class mail starts at 36 pence with 3 day delivery.
  • European (basic Airmail) stamps start at 68 pence.
  • Rest of the world: £1.10.
  • Packages start at 4.21 GBP with 2 day delivery.

Stamps are sold by the unit or in books of 4, 6 or 12 and are available from post offices and many supermarkets. They are also available online.

Post Offices

Post offices in the UK are generally open from 09:00-17:30. Outside of the cities some offices close for lunch. City branches are frequently open on Saturday mornings. The Royal Mail offers a directory of Post Offices.

Forward Mail

When you move home, whether temporarily or permanently, Home Redirections service will forward mail from your old address to the new one. Mail can be redirected for anything from one month to two years. To use the service, go to the Royal Mail site.

If you want to forward mails (for example to the old tenants), you can just cross the address and write FORWARD on the envelop with the new address, and post it back.

Undelivered Mail

If it is not for you and you don't know where to forward to, you can just cross the address and write RTS (for Return To Sender) on the envelop, and post it back.

Update 10/05/2012


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Comments

 Stephen Winch

05/03/2002

Parcelforce - Express international parcel delivery
If you need to send large packages up to 30kg inland or abroad, go to www.parcelforce.co.uk where they can give you prices for the various delivery services they offer.
E.g. price for standard services (delivery between 3-5 days): 15Kg @10 pounds inland. You can price your package online.
If you are not at home to get the delivery, you can rearrange a second delivery or collect from the depot

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