Royal Mail announcement for changes for Signed For & Special Delivery Services
Royal Mail have removed the use of coloured adhesive labels for Special Delivery Guarantee® and Royal Mail Signed For® products. The last date to use these labels was on 31st October 2022.
Since 1st November 2022 clients are now required to print barcodes alongside franking indicia. Due to meter decertification, non-Mailmark® franking machines/meters are no longer supported.
Due to the changes applicable to Signed For & Special Delivery service, Royal Mail requires usage data to be uploaded more frequently than the previous monthly periods. Since 1st July 2022, data uploads are prompted at 5pm on the days reflected in the table below.
Data upload dates every month
- 6th
- 13th
- 20th
- 26th
- Last day of the month
The period for upload will reduce from 5 days to 1 day, due to the frequency of the uploads.
New solutions for our Mailmark clients
1. Franking machine/meter new indica
The latest meters indicia will be larger in width and include an S10 1D barcode, additional product name information and new alpha-numeric content within the visual service indicator boxes. Illustrations, not to scale.

Future Meter Indicia
2. Secure Print new Indicia (SendPro® Online)
The new indicia will be as per the Meter Machine New Indicia above. Illustrations, not to scale.

Future Secure Print Indicia
3. Shipping labels via franking machine/meter API (SendPro® Online)
This is available today for parcels, the labels offered will now include letter and large letter formats. This label will be made available with access to Pitney Bowes SendPro® Online. The system will produce a fully addressed shipping label for you to apply to your mail item. Illustrations not to scale.

FAQs
Royal Mail is removing the use of coloured adhesive labels used for Special Delivery Guaranteed® and Royal Mail Signed For® products as part of its modernisation programme.
The indicia should be printed in black ink. Blue ink is also accepted.
Your barcodes will be issued to you by your meter manufacturer and printed by the franking machine when selecting Special Delivery Guaranteed or Royal Mail Signed For products.
The recording of Special Delivery Guaranteed or Royal Mail Signed For items within dispatch books is not mandatory.
If items are collected, a Collection List does not need to be signed. Dispatch receipts are not mandatory.
The pricing for all mail items is set annually by Royal Mail. Any changes would be as a result of an overall postage change.
Any company branding may be applied to any part of the mail item providing it does not interfere with Royal Mail’s ability to process the item. The areas on letter mail where Royal Mail applies its codemarks should be avoided where possible.
Please contact you meter supplier to understand the options available.
When selecting Special Delivery Guaranteed or Royal Mail Signed For on your meter, the print length will automatically set to the correct length. This may mean your company logo or return address may not print with these services.
The deadline for using the current adhesive labels is midnight 31/10/2022
Yes. By entering the item’s unique tracking identifier into Royal Mail’s Track Your Item users can see the item’s status, link below: https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item
Yes, the unique tracking identifiers on the self-adhesive labels can be accessed until the deadline, and for 12 months via https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item
After the deadline of 31/10/2022 has passed non-compliant mail items risk being surcharged by Royal Mail.
Please dispose of them securely.
Each week a file will be sent from the manufacturers to Royal Mail confirming the barcodes used by each die number (the franking machine/meter's licence number).