Sending a letter to France from abroad – Test and advice from Service Postal (servicepostal.com)
This post isn’t sponsored
Even if most of the procedures can now be done online, there are still cases where you need to send physical mail (signed contracts, sending registered mail, …)
For the reception of mail (which is then scanned for me), I have already mentioned the traveler’s mail service
To send mail, I used until now the online service of La Poste
It works very well but the service has two drawbacks
- A limitation of 8 pages maximum by mail. We can do double-sided but in some cases it isn’t enough.
- The ergonomics of the service is null and void. Really! An operation as basic as entering the recipient’s address can be complicated. It takes me 15 minutes each time I have to send a letter.
So I started looking for an alternative and I found it! The servicepostal.com service has an excellent ergonomics that allows you to send mail in 2 minutes watch in hand
As a bonus, Service Postal is cheaper than the equivalent of La Poste, great
The first time you use it, create an account and buy a “pack”. Packs allow you to benefit from a credit to be used on the service. Double advantage: you won’t have to pull out your credit card every time and you get a discount depending on the size of the pack you choose. You don’t have to take a pack but it’s so much faster than without and the first pack starts at 9 €
Once you have an account with credit, sending a mail will be done in 3 steps and in 2 minutes
Step 1: Mail preparation
You can download a document (doc, pdf, …) that you have on your computer. For my part this is what I do systematically
But you can also write a letter online, possibly using a letter template, which can be very handy
The sender’s address is pre-filled by default (you can manage several of them and change it with a single click)
Fill in the recipient’s address. The address will be recorded each time it is sent. If you later have to send mail to the same recipient, it will only take one click
Then choose the type of mail (ecopli, green letter, registered mail with or without acknowledgement of receipt, …)
Choose if you want black and white or color. Front or back
You can also choose the size of the envelope (option not available on La Poste service)
In the advanced options you can choose whether the address should be printed on the envelope or whether a window envelope is sufficient. In which case you will save a few cents
Depending on the options chosen, the price is adapted in real time
Step 2: Mail preview
Once the mail has been prepared, you can preview the mail (to check that the download has been successful) and the envelope
Check the options
You can send the mail right away or add it to the cart to prepare another one
Step 3: Confirmation
You don’t have to do anything in step 3. Service Postal informs you that the mail is taken into account and sends you a confirmation e-mail
The customer area allows you to track the status of your mail
As you can see, it’s really simple!
How much does mail sent by Postal Service cost?
In addition to an ergonomics incomparable with the service of La Poste, Service Postal is less expensive!
I imagine that they have a very large volume which has allowed them to negotiate advantageous rates with La Poste
Here are 3 examples of rates to compare
Example 1: two-page letter in ecopli
Postal Service : 1,62 € TTC
La Poste : 1,70 € TTC
Example 2: four-page ecopied mail
Postal Service : 2,50 € TTC
La Poste : 2,90 € TTC
Example 3: two-page registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt
Postal Service : 6,63 € HT
La Poste : 6,79 € HT
In addition to that, the above rates are the basic rates of Postal Service. If you buy a pack, you will get between 3 and 10% discount
Another advantage if you are a company, you can recover the VAT on simple mailings, which isn’t the case for the Post Office service
Conclusion
I’m not a big mail consumer but now I use the Postal Service whenever I need it. I warmly recommend this service 🙂
