Postage & dispatch
Bench to doormat, by way of Royal Mail
The simple version
- £3.95 flat-rate postage to any UK address.
- Free over £45.00.
- Despatched within 1–3 working days within the UK.
- Sent via Royal Mail Tracked 48 with a tracking link emailed to you the moment the parcel leaves the bench.
1. How Bertram wraps a parcel
Acid-free tissue paper, then a layer of buff kraft paper, then a fitted corrugated box. Discs sit between two layers of foam-card. Hardware is double-boxed with crumpled paper at the corners. Eleanor's hand-written index card sits on top, never tucked under the tissue (it has been known to get lost there).
2. Delivery areas
We post anywhere in the United Kingdom — England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. We do not currently ship outside the UK.
3. Dispatch lead time
Orders placed before 14:00 on a working day are normally despatched the same afternoon's Royal Mail collection. Orders placed after 14:00 or at the weekend go out the next working morning. You will receive a despatch email with a tracking link the moment the parcel leaves the bench.
4. Standard service
Royal Mail Tracked 48 — typically delivered within two working days of despatch, signed for on receipt for orders over £20. Includes up to £150 of cover.
5. What if it's late or missing?
If your tracking shows no movement for three working days, write to [email protected] with the order reference. We will open a query with Royal Mail and keep you informed. After 10 working days, Royal Mail allows a formal "lost in transit" claim — if it comes to that, we will refund or re-despatch immediately and pursue the claim ourselves.
6. Damaged parcels
Photographs of the damage, please, before you unpack — they are nearly always needed for a successful Royal Mail claim. Write to [email protected] within 7 days of delivery.
7. Wrong address?
If you give us a slightly wrong address and the parcel is returned to us, we will email you and re-despatch as soon as a corrected address is supplied. A second postage charge may apply. If the parcel cannot be returned because the address you gave is genuinely undeliverable, the standard Consumer Rights Act 2015 provisions on delivery do not assist — please double-check at checkout.
8. Eleanor's habits
Bertram visits the Postal Hall on Pulteney Bridge twice a working day. Iris keeps the ledger of every parcel that leaves. Eleanor writes the cards in the morning, before the inventory walk. A parcel that left the cabinet at 14:30 has almost certainly cleared the Bristol Mail Centre by midnight.