What is changing?
From Monday 13 October, orders under £80 sent by Articles for the Blind will have a £1 handling fee, and orders over £80 will include a £4.50 shipping charge, which covers tracked delivery.
Items such as our books and leaflets produced by RNIB’s own production house, will continue to be delivered by Articles for the Blind at no extra cost (no handling fee).
In response to customer feedback, we’re also pleased to offer the option for tracked delivery for orders under £80. Customers will now have the choice to upgrade to a faster, fully trackable delivery service for added peace of mind.
Why are shipping costs changing?
We understand that changes to delivery charges can feel like a big change, and this decision hasn’t been made lightly. To date we have not passed on any of our warehousing or shipping costs to our customers, but like many organisations, we’re facing rising costs in these areas. These small changes will help keep the RNIB Shop running smoothly and sustainably, while continuing to fund the essential work RNIB does – such as our Helpline and our Eye Care Liaison Officer support services. To give you a better idea of the impact of the cost savings, we estimate the amount we will save is equivalent to the costs of providing frontline ECLO support in a hospital for an entire year.
We’re making changes to orders placed using the Articles for the Blind scheme on orders from our third-party warehouse. This new warehouse has been a key part of our efforts to enhance your customer experience, particularly in terms of delivery times, accuracy and efficiency. As is usual, the warehouse charges us to pick and pack each parcel, regardless of whether it is being sent Articles for the Blind or not. This £1 handling fee is being introduced to cover some of this specific cost.
The £4.50 delivery fee for orders over £80 covers the cost of shipping and will ensure a trackable service which will provide you with extra peace of mind.
What delivery options can I choose from?
There are a range of delivery methods, so you can choose the one that works for you.
For orders under £80, you can choose delivery via Royal Mail’s Articles for the Blind scheme, at a cost of £1, or opt for a £4.50 tracked shipping option, if you’d like it to reach you sooner. (Tracked shipping is not available for products despatched from our in-house production facility. It is only available for products despatched by our third-party warehouse.)
Orders over £80 will be posted via tracked shipping, at a cost of £4.50.
The Articles for the Blind service is free when sending packages to blind and partially sighted friends or family members, so why do I have to pay extra when ordering from RNIB’s online shop and using this service?
While Royal Mail deliver parcels under the Articles for the Blind scheme free of charge, RNIB is charged to pick and pack, plus there is an additional surcharge by our third-party warehouse which covers the labelling and collection of parcels for our customers. As a result, we’ve had to make the decision to put these charges in place to help cover some of these costs. We want to ensure we can continue to offer the wide range of accessible products that we already do well into the future. We’re committed to ensuring our customers receive our products quickly and securely, as they always have from our online shop.
Why is there not a Tracked Shipping option for my order?
If your basket includes items that are despatched both from our third-party warehouse and our own in-house production facility, and the items are less than £80, you will not be offered the Tracked Shipping option. This is due to a limitation in our systems that doesn’t allow us to offer the Tracked Shipping option for this combination.
How do these changes impact returns?
We’re pleased to let you know that there will be no extra charge for returning a product to us. Items can continue to be returned within 14 days of receipt. If you’ve got any questions about returning a product, please read our Returns policy and don’t hesitate to reach out to us on 0303 123 9999 or helpline@rnib.org.uk and we’ll be happy to help.
