1st Class Stamp

£1.35 for a stamp from April holy moly wowzers

 

Watched a program last week about the PO and their delivery times.
1st class stamps got your letter to its destination in about a week.

 

Conor Hourihane.

 

Given the way the price increase is going, it will be cheaper to drive the letter/card to the destination in the not too distant future

 

I used to work for them and soon found out that it was just as efficient to use second class stamps.

 

It was revealed that nationwide PO managers were instructing posties to leave the letters and concentrate on parcels going out.
One Oxford woman had her child’s hospital op missed because the letter arrived late.

 

In 1800 the next day delivery of a letter (An express, as it was called) was a guinea. In today's money that's around £70

 

I still actually think its mentally good value. Literally send something from anywhere to anywhere across the UK for just over a quid? Genuinely can't think of anything thats better value. It's insanely cheap.

 

Royal Mail is completely dysfunctional and has been since it was sold off. It's not remotely equipped to meet its delivery obligations and hasn't been for years.
Surely everybody in the country knows that by now?

 

I kind of feel/felt the same way about petrol. Companies get it out the ground, refine it ship it around the world, government puts all their fkin duty/tax ECT which increases the price dramatically, and it's still even now about the same price as coca cola if not cheaper. Just a shame I get through so much of it

 

The average household gets 2 letters a week yet it’s still bound to a very outdated 6-days-a-week universal service obligation. It’s clear to see where the problem lies! Royal Mail have said they’ll continue to increase prices to address the downturn in letters until the USO is revised - it’s the only thing they can do.

The government happily took all the profits when it was doing well, and quickly sold it off when they knew it needed loads of investment and lots of lobbying to reduce the USO and bring it up to the standards of other parcel couriers.

 

When I was a boy, you could get 80 stamps for a quid.

 

I refused to buy any more stamps after the price went above a quid. Then I had to send a letter to London so I decided to deliver it by hand. The cost of the car, insurance, fuel and parking was over £30,000. Fortunately I've since had to hand deliver a letter to Glasgow which has brought the average price per letter down to about £15,000. Although the cost of fuel and parking for the Glasgow trip alone was £70 so I'm not sure I'm ever going to break even. Then there's the loss in wages for taking the day off work.
I've thought about going in to business to recoup the initial outlay and offer an alternative to Royal Mail. I've done a few calculations and I reckon I'll have to charge about £700 per letter if I'm going to follow the same price model as Royal Mail of a flat rate for anywhere on the UK mainland. Anyone interested?

 

I worked for The Royal Mail and can assure you 1st class post means absolutely nothing, letters are not priority only parcels and junk mail matter to the managers.
To say The Royal Mail is not fit for purpose is an understatement, Barnsley's main depot is an embarrassment, filthy, dark and dingy and far too small and cramped for the volume of Mail.

 

And yet it's still way more efficient than the postal service in most other countries.

 

I wish to stop receiving any post shoved through my door. In fact it's pointless sending any to my house because the dog always gets there first. All my bank cards, driving licence etc have at least one tooth mark in them.

 

Depends if you categorise having your mail delivered once a week as efficient, MT.

 

Driving a car is still pretty economical, especially if there's 3 or 4 of you. Been to Scotland twice recently. Did Edinburgh on the train from Newark. Was £185 return for 3 adults and a child with a family rail card, plus £12 parking, and another tenner to get to the accommodation in an Uber from Waverley. Reckon it would have been under half that in the car from Lincoln, but obviously far less comfortable and absolutely no need for the car while you're in Edinburgh itself. Don't really understand why going to Edinburgh by train is so astronomically expensive when you can usually find such good deals to go to London. Granted it's quite a bit further but the price difference still seems disproportionate.

Went to Glencoe by car during half term. Much further and you definitely need it to get around and about the Highlands. Still only £160 on fuel in total. No way 3 of us could have done that on public transport, even with the railcard.

 

Yet another example of the Tories running this country into the ground for private profit.

 

Compensation for Sub Postmasters fund?