1st vs. 2nd Class postage stamps

Joe_the_Prof

Is there any point in paying extra for 1st class postage!?
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/FIRST-v-SECOND-CLASS-POSTAGE-ROYAL-MAIL_W0QQugidZ10000000001675085
says:
"No Difference
According to a number of sources within or connected to the Post Office, there is now almost no difference between First and Second Class, as far as service is concerned, although there remains a price difference."
It also gives interesting information on the origins of the two-tier system.

As far as I can see, the only point is to try and con us into using 1st class, by (threatening to?) discriminate against 2nd class by deliberately making it slower!

Also, how do they discriminate? Surely not manually! Some friends and I have inspected a range of 1st and 2nd class stamps. Viewed at a glancing angle, they have vertical stripes, with that on the 1st class ones being about twice as wide as that on the 2nd class one. These do not appear to be magnetic or metallic, so we suspect that some kind of optical scanner picks up the difference in reflection from the surface (in a similar manner to the bar code readers in supermarkets etc.) Whatever the system, the threat is presumably still that they may relegate the 2nd class ones to some organized slower-delivery system.

However, does it actually happen?! After the festive season, we plan to send each other pairs of identical letters, each posted on the same day but one with a 1st and one with a 2nd class stamp. I will report on the results, in terms of delivery.

Of course, if anyone else wishes to join in the experiment, this would be very welcome!

Joe

geordie_joe

A mate who works in a sorting office told me that they just sort the 1st class ones first and then the second class ones.

All it means is the 1st class ones are ready for collection first and if they don't have time to sort them all it's the second class ones that get left until the next day.

It all depends on the sorting office. If it is good they will sort all the letter every day and both 1st and 2nd class ones will go out on the same day. If the sorting office is understaffed/overloaded then some, or all of the 2nd class ones will be left until the next day.

Personally I've had 2nd class letters delivered the next day and 1st class ones take a week. The reverse has also happened and I do think it's more to do with the sorting offices it passes through than the class it is posted at.

derrick

And they are going up again in April, 2p on first class and 3p on second class

greyteam1959

I never use 1st class postage waste of money in my opinion......
But thats just MY opinion........

Primrose

The cost of both First and Second class stamps will be going up again in April 2008 so well before then I'm going to buy my second class stamps for next Christmas's cards, and ensure that as far as possible, all my future dealings are dealt with my e-mail and not snail mail.

Mikeyorks

Joe_the_Prof wrote: »

Also, how do they discriminate? Surely not manually!

Not manually. They use a high speed orientation machine which turns/flips the unsorted envelopes until what it believes to be the stamp is at the top / right position. It then IDs the stamp using sensing technology and determines which is 1st / 2nd and outputs them in separate streams.
And, as already posted, the 2nd class do then get less favourable treatment - but it depends on the workload as to whether that makes much of a difference in time to process overall. But the 2nd class can equally be slowed at the next sorting office which splits them out into the postmens rounds for delivery.

Mikeyorks

Joe_the_Prof wrote: »

After the festive season, we plan to send each other pairs of identical letters, each posted on the same day but one with a 1st and one with a 2nd class stamp. I will report on the results, in terms of delivery.

Of course, if anyone else wishes to join in the experiment, this would be very welcome!

Joe

Royal Mail used to pay a consultancy firm who had teams of people up and down the UK - who did exactly that. It was mainly used to provide independent sampling proof (just under 100 postings per month per customer) to key customers (HMRC / Credit Card companies etc) of the state of play with Royal Mail deliveries. There was an internal doc (the business provided their normal inbound pre-printed envelope) that the customer just stamped with date of receipt and sent back to the consultants - then they got a monthly report detailing where the incoming mail was sent from / days to arrive etc.

Generally, apart from the odd blip, proved the obvious. That inbound good quality pre-printed 1st class envelopes (particularly with scannable bar codes) - are mainly delivered next day. As it's the sort of stuff the high speed sortation machines within PO, are designed for. But its a different story with the handwritten stuff which have to be sorted via manually assisted coding desks to translate the postcode (if written!) into machine useable data. Thats where PO earn the money you pay for the stamp.

So I often wonder where the media get these shots, every time PO are in the news, of people manually sorting stuff into pigeon holes? But ignore the high speed sortation machines which occupy most of sorting office space - and process 99% of standard size envelopes.

If you ever get the chance - visit a big mechanised sorting office. It will open your eyes to the fact that the only thing really decrepit within Royal Mail - is its industrial relations. Don't work for them - just moved on from train sets a long time ago - and am hugely impressed by the technology in use in printing / mailing / output handling / bulk mail receipt etc

Murdina

I don't know where they get the photos but I can assure you that the final stage of the process in the area I live is a manual sort in the local post office. However, I live in a remote rural area where getting post the next day is usually a miracle (unless it comes from Amazon, or a magazine sub - now how do they get such guaranteed delivery times?)

Mikeyorks

Murdina wrote: »

is a manual sort in the local post office.

But I did say 'sorting office' ... throughout;)

My postie does a 'manual sort' on the bonnet of his car ... at the bottom of the road! Because his 'I'll do something different today' .. revolves around whether he comes up this side (odd numbers) and down the (even) other. Or, for want of a change, he goes from side to side!

indierocker85

Depends on your view I suppose, but I don't trust the 1st class stamps one bit and have had experiences whereby 2nd class has arrived faster at not particuarly busy times of year. Unless I want something to get to someone/somewhere in desperately quick speeds (which is rare) I will always use 2nd class. Cheapest is best for sake of a days difference in delivery