Sending your precious films by post needn’t be a worrying experience. Providing you follow some basic guidelines there shouldn’t be any problems.

Make sure you package your films correctly, think about the size and weight of the finished package. For example a few 3 inch reels will be fine in a jiffy bag, as would a few Hi8 tapes, however if you have many heavy 7 inch reels then we would recommend a sturdy box with bubble wrap around each reel. The box ideally should be a double wall as single wall boxes can be torn or punctured in transit.

Next, mark your package with some labels such as “Handle With Care”, or use tape with the words “Fragile” printed on it.

Now make sure that you always use the postcode, the delivery service in most cases only needs the house number and the postcode to determine an address but it is better to write the full address.

Make sure you add your address on the back of the parcel, it should always start with “Sender”.

Royal Mail offer several services, however we would recommend only two:

1st Class Recorded Delivery and Special Delivery. 1st Class Recorded usually arrives the next day and requires a signature, however it has minimal insurance and cannot be tracked until after delivery, it can also take several days to arrive although this is unusual. You will pay more for Special Delivery but it is guaranteed for 1 pm next working day, insurance is higher and the parcel can be tracked after leaving the post office. For more information see the Royal Mail Website here.

In all the years we have run this business to date (February 2009) we have never had a parcel go missing, lost, or damaged using Royal Mail. Our customers send us work from all over the UK, Ireland, USA, Europe and further, Royal Mail deals with these international packages when they arrive at the UK hub.

We can arrange collection

We understand that you may not wish to use Royal Mail to send your films to us, that’s why we have arranged special prices with DHL to collect and deliver to us by 12pm the next day from almost anywhere in the UK, we can also collect Europe wide including Turkey. Prices start from as little as £12 for next day delivery guaranteed and you can track your parcel all the way.

How it works

Once you tell us you prefer to use DHL, we will arrange a date when you can be sure someone will be available to hand the package to the DHL driver. We will then book and pay for your shipment and email you the labels which you can print and apply to your package. That’s it, simply wait for DHL to arrive and hand over the package, please ensure you receive a receipt from the driver. If you are not able to print the label then we will post them to you. Please ensure you are available the whole of the collection day, recollections cannot be arranged and the shipment will still have to be paid for. The final shipping cost will be added to your final invoice.