We collect and deliver 82 million letters and parcels a day, six days a week, to over 27 million addresses. We try to make sure each one arrives safely and on time, but if something goes astray or gets lost, we'll do our best to sort it out.

Whilst we are committed to providing a world class postal service to our customers, we have two compensation schemes in place for when we do not meet our set standards for the delivery of mail.

Both schemes only apply to mail sent with Royal Mail – we do not give compensation for mail posted with other operators.

Our compensation schemes cover two broad types of mail - Bulk and Retail.

The Bulk Mail compensation scheme for delay demonstrates to our bulk mail customers our commitment to achieving high quality of service, and is a means of compensating them fairly if we do not. It applies to Printed Postage Impression (PPI) mail including Standard Tariff Letters, Cleanmail, Response Services, Mailsort, Advertising Mail, Walksort, Presstream, ASTLL, mailmedia, Sustainable Mail, Advertising Mail Light, Big Book and Royal Mail Heavyweight. Click here to find out about bulk mail compensation.

Please note, from 2 April 2012 we are withdrawing the Bulk Mail compensation for delay and items posted on or after that date will not be eligible for delay compensation. Customers who are sending urgent or time-sensitive mail should use a time guaranteed service such as Special Delivery.

• Find out more about our 'retail' products
• Learn more about our 'bulk' products
• See the range of our 'response services'