The cost of postage is the curse of the mail order business as most customers think that realistic prices are a rip off as they rarely send chunky items by post.  Many traders offer post free shipping with orders above a certain value but this can’t be true, you’re paying for that postage somewhere as the Post Office doesn’t start delivering for free when you take a big package to them.

Having thought about the best way to add postage to orders and to keep item prices competitive we have decided on the following policy: -

• Standard Delivery – This is currently £5.00 per order and if you order via the online shopping this amount will be added to your order.

• Small Items – As the postage isn’t charged until we process the order we will use common sense to adjust the postage for very small items. E.g. a couple of PSC items in an envelope may be charged at £2.50 for postage.

• Large Items – Heavy stuff can’t be done for the £5.00. In fact the Royal Mail or Parcel Force prices for heavy items are a lot more. The usual method for heavy items is to ship them with a local carrier and the typical charge is £7.50

• Special Items – Occasionally we decide that the more expensive loco’s need insuring to their full value and need secure guaranteed delivery. We make an additional charge for this and say so on the web page referring to the item. If we say Insured Carrier take this to mean Insured Carrier or similar service as for example we may use Royal Mail Special Delivery instead.

• Overseas Items  -  changed terms 01/02/08

With effect from the data above we have changed our overseas shipping methods and costs.

Prior to the above date we shipped items to Europe by the cheapest means for our customers and only insisting on using the more expensive insured services for higher value items but the cheaper methods don’t have either tracking or adequate insurance to replace the value of the goods. Due to a sudden increase in the number of items going missing a change is required: -

This leaves us in a `no win’ situation with our customers who want the cheapest price and yet expect us to replace the items or refund the cost when they are delayed or don’t show up

With effect from the 1^st February 2008 this we will no longer ship international orders by under insured and non tracked service. Generally we will use Royal Mail Airsure trackable services and increase the insurance to cover the full replacement value of the goods. Once a shipment gets to a certain size/value it becomes more economic to use our courier service.

Small Print: The final decision on method of shipping is ours although we will do our best to fit in with any special requirements you may have. As EDM models/NGTrains is a business we run in addition to our normal day jobs it has to fit in around the requirements of these. An example of how this may affect your order is that occasionally I have to work away from home in which case I will deal with your order as soon as I can on my return. If I said I would ship by courier and I am working away from home in the week you may get your package by Royal Mail Special Delivery as the carrier doesn’t collect on weekends and the post office is open Saturday mornings.

I use our local post office. Like many they are threatened by being rationalised if their business isn’t high enough and they go out of their way to be helpful. Rather than cause a massive queue by turning up with crates of orders to post I leave it with them and they work through it in quiet moments. The usual operation is that they ship stuff first class if they can and I mark any specials for them to do. Occasionally the special requirements get missed and the items get sent normal post. If this happens I apologise but that is beyond my control and is a glitch in normally excellent service

To ship items the post office has to be open! Might seem obvious but as the day job often requires me to travel I can't always get to the post office before they close even if I packed your order and took it with me intending to post it. The day job pays the mortgage it therefore has to get the priority. The only undertaking I can give is to ship your order as soon as I can.