THE Royal Mail is making changes to delivery office depot opening and closing hours, as well as deliveries.

The new changes have been put in place to ensure the safest and most reliable service for its customers nationwide.

It follows additional measures put into place on March 24, which include "only one person being allowed in a Royal Mail delivery vehicle at any one time", and an emphasis on postal workers washing their when leaving and entering any Royal Mail buildings.

To minimise contact, a customer signature is no longer required, and packages that are too big to be posted through the letterbox will be left outside the door.

Here are the stricter guidelines coming into force next week, as stated on the Royal Mail website:

Customer Service Points – Temporary Change in Opening Hours

To protect the health and safety of our people and the general public, from Monday, April 6, we are changing the opening times of our Customer Services Points in our local delivery offices.

  • Our largest locations will be open between 7am-11am.
  • All other Customer Service Points will be open between 7am-9am.
  • All will be closed on Wednesday and Sunday.
  • To support the Government’s advice to stay at home and avoid non-essential journeys, we urge customers to only visit Customer Service Points where absolutely necessary.
  • As a reminder, we can also redeliver your item(s) for free. 

Longer retention period for parcels

To give you longer to collect or have your item redelivered, we are temporarily extending the retention period to 30 calendar days from Monday, April 6, before items are returned to sender .

This applies to the following:

  • Items we’ve left a ‘Something for You’ card
  • Items that have a ‘Surcharge to Pay’
  • Items that have a ‘Customs Charge to Pay’
  • Local Collect items where the parcel is addressed to the Customer Service Point

Special Delivery

Due to increased absence levels, we’ve reviewed our timed guarantees for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and 1pm services and will make the following changes:

  • For items posted from Tuesday 31 March 2020 onwards, our guaranteed delivery for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am the next working day will change to by 12.00pm the next working day*.
  • Our guaranteed delivery for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1pm will change to by 9pm the next working day*.

*existing postcode exceptions apply

Signing for and receiving items

In order to protect both our people and customers as much as possible, we are minimising contact during delivery.

We will not be handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures but instead log the name of the person accepting the item.

Additionally, for all customers where we need to deliver any item that won’t fit through your letterbox, we will place your item at your door.

Having knocked on your door, we will then step aside to a safe distance while you retrieve your item.

This will ensure your item is delivered securely rather than being left outside.

Delivering to care homes

The Government has introduced measures to protect our most vulnerable groups, including those in residential care.

These include limiting all but essential access to care homes for external contractors.

We recognise that post is important to the elderly, particularly those away from their friends and families in care homes.

Therefore, to support the effort to keep the mail moving but prevent the spread of Coronavirus, we are making arrangements to deliver to a central point (e.g. reception) rather than individual addresses within care homes from 19th March.

These changes will help to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our people and the vulnerable in society.

Leaflets and unaddressed mail

We will deliver unaddressed door to door advertising mailings to customers who are receiving addressed letters or parcels at the same time, wherever practically possible.

Door to door mailings provide a very valuable service to small businesses and companies of all kinds as they seek to provide their goods and services.

Many small businesses need that support now more than ever.

They want to send it, many consumers want to receive it.

Door to door mailings also include important communications from local government.

Public Health England guidance on receiving mail

Previously the World Health Organisation said the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low.

The spokesman said: "The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low."