Changes to the way DX charges

Changes to the way DX charges

The DX service is an integral part of many solicitors firms, allowing for a secure and efficient postal system.  It is the leading postal supplier to the legal profession.
For several years the DX has used a weight monitoring system in order to calculate the subscription costs to each customer.  In a move that will bring it in line with other mail service providers, the DX is introducing ‘format’ monitoring together with weight.  This means that the size of the items being sent will affect the cost of the yearly subscription to the service.
The size guides will be familiar to most people, being split into ‘letter’, ‘large letter’, ‘packet’, and ‘parcel’.  The maximum dimensions for each category are the same as those for the Royal Mail.
For an item to be classed as a ‘letter’ it must not weigh more than 100grams, and must not exceed 240mm in length; 165mm in width; and 5mm in depth.  Most general correspondence and invoices should be able to fit into this category.
‘Large letters’ can weigh up to 750grams, and must be within 353mm length, 250mm width, and 25mm depth.  This size encompasses most A4 documents.
A ‘packet’ can be any item that doesn’t fit the dimensions above, and examples of these could be jiffy bags or archive boxes.   The maximum dimensions for rectangular items to be classed as packets are 610mm in length; 460mm in width; 460mm in depth; and 2kg in weight.
Any items that don’t fit these dimensions are classed as ‘parcels’ and can weigh up to 25kg.
Firms will not be asked to separate out the mail into the different categories for collection.  The DX provides forms to enable firms to carry out their own monitoring, as additional information to be used to calculate the annual subscription but this is not mandatory.
Depending on the postal profile of the firm, this new move may affect the subscription costs of using the DX.  This might lead to firms changing the way in which the mail is prepared, for example, being more likely to fold A4 items to fit into the letter category.  However, the DX is still a cost-effective service, compared to other suppliers.
John Lafferty of Eagle Consultancy a business specialising in reducing postal costs for law firms said:
“The idea of sized based pricing was introduced to the public by Royal Mail in August 2006, and it would appear now that DX are about to do the same.
Not only will this make some of the items being sent more expensive, it will add time on to the daily monitoring, as can be seen by the new forms introduced by DX, which rather than being A4 size, are now a full A3 sheet, and will take the operators far more time to process their outgoing mail when doing a monitoring for DX.
The main gripe we hear from DX users is not about the service or security, it is about the fact they have no way of telling whether they are actually getting the service they are paying for, and this is where we come in.”
Clearly conveyancers still post much of their communication and any changes at the DX system will impact on their business.  What are your experiences are you finding the cost of DX post is increasing or decreasing following this change?
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