Personally delivered
A letter or document can be addressed directly to the individual customer.
Paper, post & Durable Medium
Keep the permanence. Lose the print and postage.
Paper is a natural Durable Medium because the customer receives a physical copy they can keep. But every delivery brings printing, fulfilment and postage costs.
Where electronic delivery is appropriate, Documentd gives customers their own long-term electronic copy without recreating the physical mailing process.
Keep paper where it is required or genuinely useful. Remove it where it is only carrying a document from A to B.
Why paper works
Paper already has the characteristics firms are trying to preserve electronically
A posted document is personally addressed, can be retained by the customer and provides a settled point-in-time record. That makes paper an intuitive Durable Medium.
Easy to retain
The customer receives a physical copy they can keep for future reference.
Stable point-in-time record
What arrives through the post does not silently change after delivery.
The challenge is not to make electronic delivery behave like paper in every respect.
It is to preserve the useful characteristics - personal delivery, future access and an unchanged record - without carrying the physical cost structure with them.
Read the FCA guidanceThe cost of physical delivery
Every document carries a variable cost
The postage stamp is only the most visible part. Physical document delivery also creates printing, materials, fulfilment, handling and replacement activity.
Printing
Documents have to be rendered, printed and quality-checked before dispatch.
Paper, envelopes and insertion
Every item consumes physical materials and has to be folded, inserted or packed.
Postage
Every document creates a direct variable delivery cost.
Fulfilment and handling
Batch preparation, collection, franking or mail-house activity sits around the postage itself.
Returned and replacement mail
Address problems, lost post and replacement copies create additional handling.
Customer filing
The customer still has to store, organise and retrieve the physical record themselves.
A simple postage illustration
At scale, even basic postage becomes material
At current Royal Mail retail rates, a standard 2nd Class letter costs 91p and a standard 1st Class letter costs £1.80. Business rates may differ.
2nd Class postage alone
1st Class postage alone
Materials, handling and replacement activity sit on top.
Illustration only, using Royal Mail retail letter prices current in September 2026. Actual business mailing costs depend on volumes, contracts, format, weight, fulfilment arrangements and service level.
Check current Royal Mail pricesThe real comparison
Paper and Documentd solve the same long-term customer need in different ways
Both approaches are trying to give the customer something they can keep. The difference is the infrastructure required to do it.
Paper & post
Physical permanent copy
- Personally addressed
- Customer receives a copy to keep
- Settled point-in-time record
- – Printing and material cost
- – Postage and fulfilment cost
- – Customer must file the paper themselves
Documentd
Electronic permanent copy
- Personally delivered
- Customer receives their own electronic copy
- Settled point-in-time record remains available
- No printing or envelope process
- No postage or physical fulfilment
- Documents remain organised in one place
Paper gives the customer permanence.
Documentd is designed to preserve that benefit electronically without the
physical delivery chain.
Electronic-first does not mean paper never
Move paper selectively, not indiscriminately
Different FCA rules contain different requirements around electronic delivery, customer choice and paper. A sensible migration starts by identifying which communications can move electronically and which should remain available on paper.
Respect applicable customer rights and channel requirements
If the rule requires paper to remain available, or the customer has requested it, retain the appropriate paper route.
Use electronic delivery where the rules and customer need allow it
Do not keep posting documents simply because the old operational process was built around paper.
Give the customer a persistent electronic record
Electronic delivery should still leave the customer with something reliable they can return to later.
A simpler delivery chain
Remove the physical steps between document creation and customer access
With paper, a digital document has to become physical before the customer can receive it. Documentd keeps the delivery process electronic from end to end.
or
Fewer physical steps means fewer variable delivery costs. The customer still receives a persistent document copy.
Use it for the right documents
Replace the post where the customer needs a record, not a piece of paper
The best candidates are important point-in-time documents that customers may need to retain, review or retrieve later.
Common candidates
Documents worth keeping
Statements and reports Policy documents Agreements and contracts Terms and conditions Regulatory notices Tax documents Confirmations Other important customer records
A controlled migration
Move from post to electronic delivery in three steps
The aim is not to abolish paper overnight. It is to remove it from the communications where it no longer adds value.
Identify the documents still sent by post
Separate communications that genuinely need paper from those being posted because the process has never changed.
Check the applicable FCA rule
Confirm whether electronic delivery is permitted, whether paper must remain available, and whether any choice or notice requirements apply.
Move appropriate documents to Documentd
Give the customer an electronic point-in-time copy that remains available in their own Keepd document space.
Documentd can be introduced manually, through existing email workflows, or through API integration for high-volume system-generated documents.
Try Documentd freeA lower-cost Durable Medium approach
Give customers the permanent copy without posting it to them.
Where electronic delivery is appropriate, Documentd turns an important customer document into a long-term electronic record without printing, envelopes, fulfilment or postage.
About regulatory requirements
Whether paper can be replaced by electronic delivery depends on the applicable rule, the information being provided and any customer choice, consent, notice or paper-right requirements that apply.
Documentd is designed around the characteristics identified in the FCA definition and guidance on Durable Medium. Firms remain responsible for determining which regulatory requirements apply to their own communications.
FCA Handbook definition of Durable Medium