UCL Mail & Courier Services

UCL provides a full postal and courier service to every department around campus and all outlying sites. Send mail or arrange a courier via this page.

Sending mail to UCL

To ensure the safe delivery of items to staff at UCL, please ensure all post and packages are clearly labelled with the following:

**Your department or faculty**
University College London
20 Bedford Way
London
WC1H 0AL

Sending mail from UCL

To assist with identification and to reduce the amount of routine security scanning, all parcels sent from UCL should clearly include the sender's name and department. Post room staff have been instructed not to collect parcels that do not carry a return address.

All outgoing mail is posted 2nd class by default. If 1st class is required for a particular item please mark a cross in the top right hand corner of the letter.

We require an internal department transfer for any posting over £50. Depending on the weight of the letters this is roughly equivalent to 170 1st class or 240 2nd class.

Sending Parcels Abroad (International Mail)

Any "gifts and goods" sent internationally from Great Britain (excluding NI) now require a customs declaration. For parcels with a value less than £270 please complete, print, and attach a form to your parcel. The Post Office have clear, quick guidance to the CN22 forms.

Delivery schedule 

All mail received daily from Royal Mail will be sorted and delivered on either the 10.30am or 14.30pm post rounds. Delivery and collection points are agreed with each department.

Courier Services

The UCL Logistics team manages the process for courier services to ensure the best rates for the university.

Please contact the UCL Courier team to discuss your requirements on 020 3549 5424 (UCL ext 65424).

The team will arrange to despatch the item/s from your office location, obtain quotes from the couriers, and arrange collection of the items from the post room.

Departments will be billed monthly for courier usage.

In order to send your courier items, the Courier team at UCL will require the completion of the  request form.

Scope of Service

UCL Logistics & Mail team will provide the following; 

• Provide a full delivery/collection service to every UCL department. 
• Process, frank and prepare all external international and UK mail for collection. 
• Receive, sort, prepare and deliver all incoming and internal mail in a timely manner. 
• Provide advice and guidance on all postal and courier matters. 
• Provide a dedicated internal special delivery service, recording all signed for items before receiving a signature on delivery. 
• Manage all large bulk mail outs, sourcing best possible rates for all external mail, including liaising with international postal authorities and couriers.
• Manage all outgoing courier items 

Summary of Framework

The framework covers requirements across UCL. Courier Services within the framework cover standard services and laboratory services. 

Courier Framework Lots

The scope of two lots are described below: 

LOT 1: STANDARD COURIER SERVICES 
Predominately Lot 1 is for the collection and delivery of non-hazardous items within the UK and International courier services, which will offer both standard and express door-to-door delivery services for non-laboratory consignments in the UK, EU and the rest of the World (ROW) 

LOT 2: LABORATORY COURIER SERVICES 
Essentially the scope of Lot 2 is for laboratory items which may include hazardous and infectious substances (class 6.2 infectious substances mainly Cat B but occasionally Cat A) which may be packed in dry ice and laboratory consumable items. 

Additional Services Available

If you are carrying out a project, which may require regular deliveries and collections of items such as blood products or items relating to a marketing campaign. Please contact UCL Mail Services or Procurement Services to discuss your requirements. 
Temperature- controlled dry-ice top up on route deliveries are also available. Please contact the UCL Mail services team or courier direct to discuss your requirement.

The UCL Courier phone number is 020 3549  5800 (Ext. 65800)

Please visit the UCL Mail room Services webpage for further information.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/our-services/ucl-mail-services

Summary of Suppliers by Lot

The table below lists the suppliers for each lot:

Lot	Suppliers
Lot 1: Standard Domestic/ International Services	City Sprint DHL FedEx SMA Worldwide
Lot 2: Biological/ Laboratory Courier Services	City Sprint World Courier SMA Worldwide

or general enquiries contact: procurement@ucl.ac.uk

Procurement Services
Procurement Services Team
1st Floor, Bidborough House
38-50 Bidborough Street
London
WC1H 9BT

Post room FAQs

Weight of post 

The maximum weight for Royal Mail overseas post is 2kg for normal mail or 5kg for printed matter. Heavier items must be sent by courier.

The maximum weight our post operatives will handle is 10kg. Any sack of mail heavier than 10kg will not be collected.

Internal post

To ensure prompt delivery, addresses for the internal post should always include the department and building. Please do not attach delivery details using sticky notes.

The post is sorted according to the department, not name. This is owing to the large number of staff at UCL. Mail without this information may not be delivered.

Special delivery Items

Please write ‘special delivery’ on the top right-hand corner of the letter and leave the letter with your normal mail at your collection point.

Bulk post

Please give one hour's notice of any bulk posting over 200 items. Depending upon the weight of the bulk mail it may be necessary to provide an internal department transfer as departments must pay for all mailings costing more than £50.

Couriers

Couriers have been appointed as a result of a competitive tendering process. Please contact the Courier team at UCL if you require a courier using the form above. 

Freepost

Please contact the team if you require a Freepost service.

Bulky, fragile or hazardous items 

Please contact the team if you need to send or receive bulky, fragile or hazardous items.