If you post say a large letter with at least the correct value stamps on it (standard 1st and 2nd, no actual value on them) for the second class cost, is that OK. Or does a machine read a stamp as 1st class, and decide it is meant to be 1st class, and not enough paid?
I sent off a Jiffy bag, posted in the local pillar box. Had weighed and measured it - well within the limits for a large letter second class, with over the value needed in stamps on it. But didn't mark it second class or anything else.
Imagine a table of different weights of letter/parcel and two columns, for first class and second class.
All the prices in the boxes will be unique. So reading the value from the phosphor bands on the stamps the Post Office know whether it should go first class or second.
So if you want to send something first class and bung a load of stamps on, knowing it'll be enough and not minding paying a bit extra, you might without meaning to put a value that's associated with a second class item.
Is it possible that the contents of the Jiffy bag settled during transit so that when the bag arrived it was more than 2.5cm deep? If not, the recipient should have questioned why there was a surcharge (was there nothing stuck on the bag by Royal Mail indicating the nature of the surcharge?). 1st and 2nd class stamps are worth whatever the equivalent cost is on the day of posting (currently 70p and 61p).
I do wonder whether the jobsworths at the top of the post office realise that slowly and surely they are signing their own death warrants, the latest increase in postal charges being a case in point.
When we moved here 44 years ago, the first post was at about 07:30 in the morning. What was actually happening ws that several Postmen Pats had a second job so they were well motivated to finish their tranche of toil as soon as possible.
Some jobsworth then ruled that if they were paid for a whole day then they had to stay all day with the net result that the post now arrives at some time between 12 noon and 3 PM.
What a brilliant move to endear your customers to you.
Also, the pillar box at the end of the road used to be emptied at 17:45 PM but now it is emptied at 09:00 AM ????????
Why should that be when all the posties drive around and could easily call here in the evening.
Deliveries at 12 noon AFTER the pillar box has been emptied makes it impossible to act via return of post!
I ask again, is the Post Office riddled with jobsworths who are completely clueless when it comes to customer relations?
Postage rates increased on 23rd March, but that should be ok as your stamps are now worth more. It's the current value of these non-denominated stamps which matters, not what you paid for them.
Maybe one fell off or the postie needed a stamp? I guess it must happen
I very recently sent two first class large letters each with two standard second class stamps on them (a slight overpayment). Both arrived next day, without problems.
Would the presence of "Second Class" being written on the letter improve the chances if the recipient appealed against the surcharge, because it makes clear that the sender intended the postage to be the correct amount for second class postage at that size/weight, as opposed to insufficient postage at first class? If it is legal to use a first class stamp NVI stamp as part-payment for a higher second class postage for a greater size/weight, then it shouldn't be necessary to write "Second Class": if the Royal Mail misinterpret this as first class with insufficient postage, that is their problem, not the sender's or the recipient's.
Mr Plowman is using NVI (No Value Indicated or WTTE) stamps, they just have 1st or 2nd on, along with "Large" for 1st/2nd class large letters. The "value" is what ever is current for the stamp in question.
With out the 2nd Class being written on the package the automatic will have read the stamp and classified the item as that and charged accordingly. TBH I'm not sure that writing 2nd Class on would make any difference but it should.
I agree: last collection *before* last/only delivery is a PITA. I managed to circumvent it the other day. I received a letter that I was expecting which needed a signature before being returned to the sender (pre-paid, pre-addressed envelope). So as soon as the postman arrived, I opened the letter, signed the relevant box, put it into the pre-paid envelope and gave it back to the postman. He looked a bit miffed, but postmen usually/always accept letters to be posted - and at the moment with people being confined to barracks, I imagine more and more people are taking advantage of that.
The difference between collection in the evening and the following morning can make a difference of a whole day in when the letter is received, because late afternoon collections usually get sorted and delivered to the recipient's sorting office overnight, ready for delivery with that day's post - assuming that the letter is first class.
As a matter of interest, what happens if the sorting office receive two letters (let's say, to the same recipient's address) in the same collection from the same pillar box, but one is first class and one is second class? Where does the second class letter go while the first class one is being sorted and routed to the recipient, only to make the same journey a day or so later? Is second class post separated from first class, and kept back to a second van/plane/train (*)?
(*) In the days when post was still sent by train, a la Night Mail.
The other nail in their coffin which I forgot to mention is this recent concept of large letter when it used to be that all first class letters of whatever shape and size were covered by tbe one stamp.
Another example of the jobsworth at the top not understanding the need for not pissing off your customers?
As to the night mail train, I had a friend (RIP) who would buy stamps on the first day of issue at one minute past midnight from the 24 hour post office (in Trafalgar Square?) and then go on a mad rush to catch the post on all the down night mail trains leaving London.
Now, the night mail leaving London would cancel / frank all letters with the previous days' postmark with the chance of getting a first day cover with the previous days' postmark!
But to deal with such cancellations, a special "AM" postmark was used for such letters, but still rare enough to be valuable.
I don't think that is right. The point is the postage went up relatively recently but the rule of thumb is that they would honour the stamps already purchased. I'd have a moan if you are sure it complies with the latest pricing changes. Brian
It seems to me that most of the costs of the postal system (sorting, transport, delivery) are the same for 1st and 2nd class items, but 2nd class items also have to be stored for an extra day or two, which must surely add a bit to the intrinsic costs. So really they ought to charge us more for 2nd class postage than for 1st class.
A first class stamp has phosphors on to that effect. You have to be careful making up values from stamps that are marked 1st or 2nd.
Conversely you can use old ones and they will still be honoured. (even though you bought them at some lower price)
One of their clever scams was to charge extra for large letters so that grannies big birthday card for small child with a normal letter first class stamp on it would arrive postage due for being oversize. This despite the fact that the value of the stamp was enough for 2nd class.
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