Millions of Royal Mail customers are being made aware of a significant postal change arriving later this month.

Initially scheduled for October 18, the new regulation has been delayed and will now take effect from October 25. Royal Mail has announced it is cutting the length of time it will keep people’s parcels at local collection points.

From that date, items delivered to a Post Office branch or a Royal Mail Parcelshop at the request of either the sender or recipient will only remain available for collection for 10 days – an eight-day cut from the previous 18-day period.

This change applies to items specifically chosen for delivery to a Post Office or Parcelshop during checkout, as well as parcels redirected there following an unsuccessful delivery attempt by a postman at your address.

Royal Mail has made clear, however, that items held at a Customer Service Point, which includes Post Office branches operating as a Customer Service Point, will still be retained for the full 18 days.

A Royal Mail Parcelshop (sometimes called a Royal Mail Shop or designated drop-off point) is a physical site such as a local corner shop, a regular Post Office branch, or a parcel locker where customers can send, collect, or return parcels.

The postal service operates an extensive network of more than 24,000 drop-off and collection locations throughout the UK.

This includes rebranded Collect+ outlets, conventional Post Office branches, parcel lockers, customer service points, and handy parcel postboxes.

The parcel collection update forms part of a broader package of reforms designed to modernise Britain’s postal service.

In a landmark change, standard second-class letters will be delivered on alternate days only.

Standard bulk business letters – which often include vital correspondence such as household bills and bank statements – are moving to a three-day delivery timeframe.

Royal Mail has confirmed that first-class deliveries will continue as a six-day-a-week service, operating from Monday to Saturday.

The postal operator anticipates the new delivery arrangements will be completely rolled out across all of its 1,200 delivery units by the end of 2026.

In addition to the schedule changes, Royal Mail is also revising its performance standards.

The company will now target delivering 90% of first-class letters by the next day, a modest decrease from the previous 93% objective. For second-class post, the target is being reduced to 95% delivered within three days, down from 98.5%.