Sending business post in bulk

Many small businesses still send letters, statements and leaflets by post. Once the numbers grow, stamps on every envelope get expensive and slow.

Royal Mail offers lower postage for bulk mail that is prepared in certain ways. These notes explain how those discounts work and the data rules that come with marketing by post. They draw on Royal Mail's own user guides, Ofcom and the Information Commission (which took over from the ICO on 30 September 2026).

Business Mail and Advertising Mail

Royal Mail's bulk letter services include Business Mail and Advertising Mail. Business Mail is for general correspondence and personal items sent for transactional, contractual or relationship reasons.

Advertising Mail is for mailings that carry a largely uniform message to every address. Its purpose is to promote products or services, or to encourage support for a cause. Royal Mail asks for a sample or seed copy of each Advertising Mail posting so its team can check the item qualifies.

How many items you need

Each option has a minimum volume, counted per class, per day and per site. Unsorted Advertising Mail starts at 1,000 letters or 250 large letters.

Business Mail has options with no minimum at all. Its machine-readable option starts at 500 letters or 250 large letters.

Sorted options start at 4,000 letters or 1,000 large letters. The business does the sorting before posting, using Royal Mail's selection files.

Machine-readable mail and Mailmark

Royal Mail gives discounts for letters its machines can read easily. It publishes specifications for the envelope, the address and the barcode. Its technical site keeps a list of envelope makers, printers and mailing houses that have passed its quality checks.

Mailmark is Royal Mail's barcode service for high-volume mail. Each item carries a barcode, and the sender can get reports on predicted delivery dates and on errors in single items.

Delivery speeds

Royal Mail aims to deliver 1st Class bulk mail on the next working day after posting. It aims to deliver 2nd Class within three working days.

Some options also offer Economy, which Royal Mail aims to deliver within six working days. Economy deferred runs to the same six days, counted from a date the sender chooses. A mailing that has to land on a set date needs that timing built into the plan.

Mailing houses and access operators

Some bulk mail reaches Royal Mail through other postal companies. These access operators collect and sort bulk mail, then hand it to Royal Mail for the final delivery.

Ofcom requires Royal Mail to offer this access to its network. Royal Mail sets the terms and charges, and Ofcom's rules say they must be fair and reasonable. Ofcom also settles disputes between Royal Mail and the access operators.

Marketing post and personal data

The Information Commission explains that marketing by post is not covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. Data protection law still applies whenever a mailing uses people's personal details.

Anyone can object to their details being used for direct marketing, and the sender must then stop. The Information Commission advises keeping a suppression list of people who have objected. It also advises senders to check the Mailing Preference Service, although that register is not a legal requirement.

Royal Mail's Advertising Mail terms go further. Unless every person on the list has consented, the sender must screen the list against the Mailing Preference Service, including its register of people who have died. The check has to be done no more than 30 days before posting.