Royal Mail has made some updates to their shipping on their services that our customers need to be aware of as it may affect them. OAL was informed on 22nd December 2023 of this change with immediate effect from 2024. i.e. 1 working day before Christmas break, Royal Mail from 2024 will no longer take liquid samples of lubricating oil. We agree with you that this is not enough notice period for any change, and we apologise that this change has come out of the blue.

First, it is important to point out that the business post options and personal post options have some slightly different rules on what can and cannot be sent, so sending samples on our return mail accounts has different rules to sending samples over the counter at your local post office and paying on the day of shipping as a member of the public. We are using the business guidance below, which is what has had the sudden change:

Business Guidance Royal Mail Prohibited Items

These are different to personal rules if you take a parcel to the post office and pay yourself, which you can find here:

Personal Guidance Royal Mail Prohibited Items

Key Points For Our Customers:

1. Royal Mail no longer accepts liquids of any type or volume via their return mail services, including Business Reply and Freepost. So if you are not paying for the postage to return a sample to a lab by Royal Mail and it’s on the receiver’s account, you can no longer send liquids.
2. Royal Mail no longer accepts used engine oil on any service. We have had confirmation from Royal Mail customer support that they are classifying any “used” lubricant, including food-grade lubricants, in this category as of 22nd December 2023 under environmental waste. We have also had confirmation that condition monitoring samples of oil, which are not determined “used” or spent until the lab has confirmed with its testing, are also classified in this category.
   • Royal Mail may accept liquid samples sent on guaranteed/tracked services when customers pay over the counter (not return services) up to a volume of 50ml i.e. a half-filled ordinary sample bottle. This is a temporary exemption and may be removed by Royal Mail at a later date, as has the Oil Samples exemption.
3. Royal Mail customers may be able to send over-the-counter special delivery / tracked options with Royal Mail “unused” lube oils, including new engine oil, but not on any business return options. This will be at the discretion of the individual post office if they accept the parcel or not.
4. Customers sending any liquids on a personal account must be over the counter at a post office (post boxes and royal mail pickup from the site cannot send liquids), must clearly record who the sender of the goods is on the outside of the packaging so Royal Mail know who to contact should there be an issue with the parcel.
5. Protection or insurance for lost or damaged parcels does not apply to samples, so Royal Mail will not reimburse you for lost samples.
6. The sender is responsible for confirming the goods they send by any Royal Mail service do not breach Royal Mail rules and should look for updates as they are constantly subject to change without notice.

Royal Mail Service Last 24 months

We have also reviewed the service of the Royal Mail services for parcels and found the service being delivered to our customers is poorer compared to the pre-covid average of 1.8 working days. Royal Mail is not a next-day service anymore in our customers experience and these average turnaround times below demonstrate this. We appreciate there has been some industrial action during some of the months listed, so we have highlighted these for transparency, but even post the industrial action the service has only once come within the 2.5 working day target in the last 12 months. Hence, in light of the new restrictions and the service being not what it once was from Royal Mail we do not believe this is the best option for potentially critical equipment of our customers. Hence, we have made the decision to cease Royal Mail return mail options and opt for courier collection option by LubeWear Swift instead with both tracked and faster turnaround times. 

What happens to existing Royal Mail bundled users?

Any Freepost customers will automatically be upgraded onto the new LubeWear Swift service. Just email the lab for details on how to do this. When coming to re-order, you can choose whether to take a discount off your existing prices to organise your own postage, or choose to take the LubeWear Swift courier collection option. LubeWear Swift is very easy and has a dedicated number you call, book a collection on our account and they come pick up from your site. Here is some feedback of customers already having switched from Royal Mail to LubeWear Swift.

“I called up, got through instantly with no hold. Spoke to a nice lady who took my address for pickup. I only had to ask one question which was when could I expect the pickup, which I was given an immediate answer. Whole process took less than 5 minutes, much easier than a trip to the post office”

Kevin, Vehicle Dealer Manager

“I actually switched to the service before the Royal Mail changes as my local post office had told me they were not accepting oil samples. I do regular 2 weekly sampling, and was able to book a recurring every other Thursday collection, which worked perfect for me. I just batch up my samples when collected Tuesday and Wednesday and they are collected without me having to think about it. Even the batching two days together was faster than Royal Mail”

Jayne, Engine Servicing Manager

“Royal Mail took 14 days with one of my parcels before returning it to me, which meant I had to delay a service. I called the lab and they suggested I upgrade to LubeWear swift, I called at 4pm and at 10am the next morning the parcel was picked up and at 3pm the day after that I had the results. 48 hours is 7x better than I was getting before. Can’t complain at that.” 

Gareth, Maintenance Technician

What should I do and How Much Will it Cost?

Courier collection naturally costs more than Royal Mail business reply or stamp prices. Royal Mail has a good market share because they are cheap and their historically good service. For the general public, being able to pop into a post office is convenient for your average family gift, or eBay Amazon parcel or return. However, other courier services are more expensive on the whole, but we would argue much more reliable. First of all, you can still use whatever courier or postal option you want to send parcels. Usually sending parcels with a courier is much cheaper than receiving parcels on account. This is because couriers charge a “collection” fee for collecting from an address other than your business premises for returns etc. Hence, if you use a courier regularly for instance, UPS, DPD, DHL, APC, or Fedex to send your parcels normally for other purposes, you may find this is the cheapest option rather than a courier collection. Indeed, if your local post office will accept your samples still on a pay at the counter service, this may actually work out cheaper than the cost we paid on the Royal Mail return services and you may make a saving. We have automatically discounted the cost of the return postage built into your price per sample anyway for all Royal Mail customers. 

To cover this we have a few scenarios of which works out better for you:

• You send very large batches of 50 or even 100 samples at a time – No brainer, LubeWear swift will be a better option for you unless you prefer to use your own courier and make an additional saving.
• You send larger batches of samples across multiple bags (20+ samples) – LubeWear swift would be your best option and there would likely be little difference in price for you.
• You send 5 or 6 samples at a time as one batch – For a small batch such as this you would see a price increase switching to courier collection, but would likely break even on cost using your own courier option by not having the additional collection from alternative site cost. If convenience is your priority use the LubeWear swift option, if price is the main concern then use your own courier.
• You send 1 sample at a time – Ideally if you can batch would be the best saving, but if you only do it in 1s and assuming compliant with the restrictions of Royal Mail your local post office might be acceptable for you, but is you want something hassle free LubeWear Swift is your best option, although it will be more expensive than Royal Mail.
• You travel about the country and won’t be in for collections: We have 100 drop off locations for LubeWear swift across the country. This is not as many as Royal Mail, but might be an option for you. Equally, you can organise a secure collection from your doorstep with the courier, just request this on the phone which you prefer when you call up.