International Letters

Before sending letters overseas you should consider the following:

• What are the dimensions of a letter?
• What mailing service options do I have?
• What delivery speeds can I choose from?
• How do I correctly address my mail?
• How should I prepare my letters?
• How will my letters be collected?
• What can and can’t be sent?

What are the dimensions of a letter?

• over the size of 140mm x 90mm
• under 245mm x 165mm
• no more than 5mm thick.
• less than 100g.

If what you are sending is larger than this, take a look at our International Flats user guide or packet service guides.

What mailing service options do I have?

You have three different options to choose from once you have sorted your mail by service speed:

• Unsorted (just hand your letters over to us and we’ll do the rest)
• Zone Sort (zone meaning either EU or Rest of World).
• Country Sort (sorting and presenting your mail in country order)

A summary of the options available are:

* Unless part of a domestic pre-sorted mailing when the minimum is 50 per service speed.
A sales order is required.

What delivery speeds can I choose from?

Delivery speeds are in working days and exclude day of posting, Saturday and Sundays except where weeks are stated.

How do I correctly address my mail?

Make sure you address your letters correctly. Find examples within the International Letters User guide.

Customs forms
If you are sending an item to a destination outside the European Union, it will need a customs label if it is either:

• an item of commercial value
• an item contains goods or gifts
• printed paper (advisable but not mandatory).

Find out more about sending through customs.

Prepaid Postage Impression (PPI) & Airmail Indicators
Every item must have a Royal Mail approved PPI in the top right hand corner.
The design you choose must be one of those available on our PPI information page . It must include the words: POSTAGE PAID, your licence number and GB.

If you are sending an item through the Priority service it must have either:

• an Airmail indicator
• an Airmail sticker.

You may also create your own indicator with the words Airmail, Par Avion or Prioritaire. This should be positioned as closely as possible to the top left hand corner of the front of the item.

Return addresses
Include a return address to make sure undeliverable items can be returned to you free of charge.
You’ll need to put your UK return address on each item – ideally in the top left hand corner of the mailpiece on the same side as the address. Ensure there is a company identifier such as your logo or company name. We recommend that put a UK return address on every item and you must use a UK return address if you’re sending more than 1,500 items to one country over a two-week period.

How should I prepare my letters?

Traying or bagging your Letters
The standard method of despatching letters is to use trays - however, depending on volumes and therefore tray fill it may beneficial to use mailbags. Please feel free to discuss your requirements with us by calling 08457 950 950.

For further details refer to the International Letters user guide.

Paperwork
Once you have prepared and labelled your packets, you’ll create and print out a sales order from the Online Business Account (OBA) system. There are specific instructions, so for their details, refer to the Packets user guide.

In addition to the sales order from OBA there a few more pieces of paperwork required, for Unsorted High Volume mailings. They are a computer planning report and a line listing. Production of these can be easily facilitated by the OBA Data Generator so for further information, refer to the International Letters user guide.

How will my letters be collected?

Unsorted and Zone Sort and Country Sort Low Volume postings can be collected at the same time as your normal mail collection and are taken to your local mail centre.

Country Sort High Volume postings are initially handled by our Regional Distribution Centres (RDCs) before being routed to Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC).

What can and can't be sent?

What you are prohibited from sending varies from country to country and can sometimes include apparently ordinary things. If you are unsure about anything visit our Countries A to Z or call us on 08457 950 950.

To qualify for all of our International Letters services you will need to spend in excess of £5,000 per annum across the International Contract Services portfolio.