Post Office offers 20% discount on ‘Drop & Go’ postage

For a limited time you can get money off postage when you use the new fast-track service from the Post Office.

The Post Office is offering a discount on mail sent using its new ‘Drop & Go’ service for a limited period this month.

Between the 2nd and 15th September, new and existing Drop & Go customers will receive 20% off the cost of sending selected packages.

First or Second Class medium parcels up to 2kg and small parcels between 1-2kg sent via Royal Mail will be eligible for the saving.

What is Drop & Go?

Drop & Go is a relatively new, fee-free, fast-track service, suitable for when you need to post a large number of items.

It has been rolled out in 11,000 Post Office branches – nearly 97% of the network – over the last month.

Members of Drop & Go can leave items that need to be posted at a participating Post Office branch, where a member of staff will check and send them off on the same or next day.

So rather than queuing up and going through the process at a counter or through a self-service machine, you can let a member of the Post Office team do the dirty work for you.

There will be a Drop & Go Manifest form to fill in each time you use the service that lets staff know how you would like your items sent. Then a pre-paid card will be charged for the cost of the postage.

There’s no minimum spend on the pre-paid card plus the credit you put on doesn't ever expire and if you want to take the money off the card again, you can.

All the proofs of postage and receipts can be collected the next time you visit the branch.

September savings

Here is a table showing the potential savings to be made by using Drop & Go during the discount period in September.

Source: Post Office

With the September discount, Drop & Go customers will be able to send a First Class medium parcel weighing between 1 and 2kg for £7.12 – a saving of £1.78 on the standard price of £8.90.

Meanwhile, there will be a £1.60 discount on Second Class medium parcels that weigh between 1 and 2 kg – with the price falling from £8.00 to £6.40.

Who could benefit?

Generally Drop & Go will be beneficial to those who regularly have a lot of post to send off but not very much time.

Small businesses, for example, might find it a better alternative to a franking machine.

A franking machine allows businesses to prepare and pay for post, but this equipment costs money to lease and can be expensive to buy and maintain. With Drop & Go you can set up straight away and use the service for free.

However, you receive longer lasting discounts with franked mail.

Meanwhile, people who regularly sell online on sites such as eBay also stand to benefit from this offer.

According to the Post Office, 392 million items were sold through person-to-person sales on eBay alone in the past year. For small-time one-off sellers, Drop & Go can help you avoid wasting your lunch break, while bigger, more regular sellers now have a way to cut down on the time it takes to process large orders.

How to get involved

If you want to try Drop & Go you will need to register.

There is a short form to fill out asking about the sort of packages you tend to send, some details about you and your business (if you have one) as well as contact information.

If you are opening the Drop & Go account as an individual you will need one form of ID and one proof of address.

For a partnership, each partner will have to provide one form of ID and one proof of address.

But if you're opening an account as a Limited Company you will need to show a Certificate of Incorporation and proof of company address, as well as an authorisation letter for a named person to be in-charge of Drop & Go and proof of ID to match the name stated in the letter.

You can find your nearest participating Post Office branch here.

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