Affordable way of proving that an item sent via the post has arrived at its destination (Post Office Recorded Signed For Delivery Service)

Member Name: moo2moo

Product:	Post Office Recorded Signed For Delivery Service
Date:	20/10/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 75p within the UK. £3.50 to select international destinations

Disadvantages: No facility to trace the item between posting and arrival at destination

There are times you send a letter when you need to know that it arrived. This may be because the contents are of value whether financial or personal or because they have to arrive by a specific date and a signature is the easiest way to prove this occurred.

Their are lots of options out there. Anything sent with a major courier like DHL or FedEx requires a signature on recipet but at £7 or more for this service its only worth using these services if your item eweighs in excess of 4kg. For anything smaller its far cheaper to use a branch of the Post Office who will request a signature on reciept of an item for an additional 75 pence plus the normal cost of postage. This means you can send a standard letter second class requiring a signature for £1.05 within the UK. The service can also be used on Freepost envelopes where the cost is the 75 pence fee only.

This service is available over the Post Office counter only but is very quick to do. After payment of your fee a large sticker containing the Signed For logo and a barcode is added to the item being postage. A smaller sticker containing an identical barcode is added to a printed recipet containing the items destination, postal category, weight a, time and date of posting and the total cost of postage. This enables you to log onto the Royal Mail website and use the "Track and Trace" facility to determine when your parcel has arrived at its destination. If you don't have internet access a telephone number is also provided.

Should your letter fail to arrive or the contents arrive damage then the Signed For service offers enhanced compensation up to the value of £39.

The Post Office also offer an International Recorded Signed For service but this is country specific and costs £3.70 plus the cost of postage up to 5KG. Unfortunately this service is not available to BFPO addresses.

On the few occasions I've used the service the arrival information has been available the same day on the website along with a scanned copy of the signature.

Summary: Now you can prove you E-bay item really did arrive