International Letters offers you a number of options for presenting your letter format mail. From essentially just handing over a tray or bag and letting us do everything else, to sorting it into different zones or countries (which will save you money).

A letter is…

• Over the size of 140mm x 90mm.
• Under 245mm x 165mm.
• No more than 5mm thick.
• Less than 100g.

If your mail is larger than this, please see our International Flats or International Packets services.

*Unless combined with a domestic sorted service eg Advertising Mail, Publishing Mail or Business Mail. 

Please note: all the options above require you to apply the necessary mail indicia such as printed postage impression (ppi), Airmail indicator, if appropriate and UK return address.

There are two options available for Letters: Priority or Economy.

Our delivery aims are:

Please note: All figures are in working days (except where weeks are stated), and exclude the day of posting.

To identify which zone a country is in please see refer to the Letters user guide in the document library.

Unsorted

This is designed to save you money by simply separating your international letters by service speed - we’ll do the rest.
It also requires you to account for your daily despatches by counting and weighing that day’s mail and completing the necessary documentation.
With this service VAT will be charged on all the mail.

For full service details please refer to the user guide in the document library.

Zone Sort

Zone Sort offers a further cost saving and requires you to divide your mail into two selections: European Union and Rest of World. With this service VAT will only be levied on EU traffic.
For a list of countries in the EU, refer to the Letters user guide within the document library.

Country Sort

This service requires you to pre-sort your data into country order and to maintain this order when you present the mail to us. In return it offers pricing by country.

With Country Sort you have two options to choose from:

• Country Sort Low Volume where a minimum quantity of 1,000 items per posting is required per service speed and all postings are made into a mail centre.
• Country Sort High Volume where the minimum volume is 4,000 items per posting unless it is combined with a UK Mailsort, Walksort or Presstream mailing when the minimum quantity is 25 per service speed. All High Volume postings are handled by our Regional Distribution Centre network.

These services can be used to send any item provided it falls within the guidelines outlined within the Letters user guide, within the document library.

There are certain prohibited items which you must not send. What is prohibited or restricted varies from country to country, and can sometimes include apparently ordinary things. If you are unsure about anything, please contact your local Royal Mail Sales Centre on 08457 950 950 or visit our Countries A to Z page.

There are specific size and weight limits for items. For details refer to the Letters user guide, within the document library.

Please ensure you address your mail correctly. You can find examples of how you should address your mail, depending on where you’re sending it to within the Letters user guide, within the document library.

One of the most important criteria being that the country name appears on its own on the last line of the address.

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.
• The item contains goods or gifts.
• For printed paper it is advisable to add customs declaration.

For further information, refer to the Royal Mail Customs Advice page.

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 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, provided the words Airmail, Par Avion or Prioritaire are used. This should be positioned as close as possible to the top left hand corner on the front of the item. Failure to apply a Priority Airmail indicator will result in them being delayed.

Economy mail must not have an Airmail indicator.

For more information access the Letters user guide, within the document library.

We strongly recommend that you include a return address in order to reduce wastage on future postings as any undeliverable items will be returned to you free of charge.

The return address must be a UK address and ideally situated in the top left hand corner of the mail piece.

If posting more than 1,500 items to one country in a posting or 5,000 items to a country over a two week period then these items must have a UK return address.

The International Letters services give you the option to present your priority mail in either trays or mailbags.

Trays are a fast, efficient method and keep your mail in the best possible condition.

There are specific instructions so for the details refer to the Letters user guide within the document library.

All Economy mail has to be presented in bags. When using mailbags make sure they are sealed around the neck with a bag tie and that they are securely tied with a fully completed label attached.

In addition to the requirements already mentioned Country Sort High Volume items must adhere to our ‘Optical Character Recognition’ OCR specifications. These are detailed in the Letters user guide within the document library.

Once you have sorted, bagged or trayed and labelled your letters, you must detail what you are sending on our Online Business Account (OBA) system and then print a statement of mailing. There are specific instructions, so for their details, refer to the Letters user guide within the document library.

If you have a local daily collection of mail then your International Letters can be collected at the same time. Unsorted, Zone Sort and Country Sort Low Volume mail must be posted into a mail centre where as Country Sort High Volume mailings will access our Regional Distribution Centre network.

If you require a collection, please contact your local Royal Mail Sales centre on 08457 950 950 to arrange this.

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