Have you been in this situation? You have spotted a bargain on the British Ebay, only for the delivery rate to Ireland cancelling out any cost saving you may have from buying in the UK? Or you have found an absolute steal of a second-hand book on Amazon Marketplace, only for the trader not offering international delivery?
An Post has come up with a very simple and clever way to avoid such frustrations but amazingly, the company is not making much effort in marketing their service. Word of mouth alerted me to their new facility called AddressPal. I have been using it very successfully for the last couple of weeks and I’m delighted with it.
By registering with AddressPal, you create a UK delivery address for your online shopping. Within three working days of receipt of the item at your UK address, you will get an email/SMS to say, your purchase can be collected from your nominated, local post office in Ireland. The service costs just €3.50 for each standard item; the fee is paid at your post office when collecting the item.
Size and weight restrictions for Standard Items are generous: Max. dimensions are 72cm x 31cm x 25cm (approx. 28” x 12” x 9.5”), max. weight 20kg. Don’t despair if you were hoping to shop for even larger things: At a charge of €25 per item, you can even have oversized shopping delivered, up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) long. Conditions apply and you should check further details on AddressPal’s FAQs page.
I’m very happy with this innovative, well functioning service. Not only does the shopper benefit from low delivery costs, but AddressPal may also be a godsend for our local post offices that are in ever-present danger of closing down from lack of use and income. Check out AddressPal.ie to learn how it can be of advantage to you, but don’t go on a mad shopping spree because of it!
