To think that first class postage is now very, very expensive?

[Lookandlearn]

Will be doing local deliveries myself and investing in a carrier pigeon!

It's expensive, but also there's no difference between first and second class post - they don't get sent by some sort of different system just because you've bought a first class stamp!

was cheap to start with compared to other companies

Yes, and first class doesn't mean it'll get there any quicker either!

Not really when you think of the process of taking letter from a to b.
The PO isn't a perfect service. But name me a service that is.
Also they don't have as much post nowadays with instant messaging/e-mails etc.
When was the last time you received a written letter?
I can't remember the last time I bought stamps

how much is it now?

46p

It's expensive because the previous government allowed other companies to compete in the more profitable areas of postal services (bulk post and parcels). Those services were subsidising the ordinary letter deliveries.

It's gone up a lot! That's why I bulk bought 300 stamps last week !

Much cheaper than the rest of Europe though.

That's cheap. In Belgium it is 71 cents for a letter that is the size of the average envelope a bill arrives in...for anything bigger (or smaller) such as an average size birthday card it is 1.42 euros!!!!!!

I still have a load of Christmas ones left - but i worry if i use them the recipient will think i thought i had more friends than i do....

.....i did think i had more friends than i do...

I rarely send letters now days. I'm sure it's because we pay for fewer things with cheques. I think it's still good value for me to send a letter to Devon or Wales from the midlands for just 46p. I do post local stuff by hand as I'm passing.

1st class doesn't mean it gets there any quicker? WHAT?

My aunt just sent me some baby clothes from England. I was shocked that it cost more than GBP10 for the parcel and took more than 2 weeks to get to the US. I complained to the postmaster this morning so he scanned the parcel and showed me that the package left England on Friday last week. I have no idea what Royal Mail was doing with this parcel but it shouldn't take more than week to get from West Kirby Post Office, Wirral to Manchester Airport.

Letters are not sorted into first and second class. They go by exactly the same delivery system at the same time. If you post two letters into the same box one with a first class stamp one with a second there is no logical reason they would get there at different times.

I used to do some work in a professional capacity for Royal Mail and I promise you this is what the head honcho in charge of delivery systems told me.

See how far your 46p bus ticket will take you.

46p is very, very expensive? You don't know you're born, the UK is like the cheapest country in Europe for practically everything!

Think what else you can buy with 46p............. not a lot really!

And YY to no difference between 1st and 2nd class stamps paws

In NI at least, 1st class usually arrives the next day and 2nd the day after that.

So it does make a difference.

And I think 46p is pretty good for that kind of service.

Whilst first class postage has definitely gone up, it's still better than the alternative which usually will involve petrol and now that IS expensive.

Has the parcels rate gone up too?

I think it's all gone up Stresshead. I posted something I often post for work today and it had gone up from 81p to 92p.

I think 46p to stick a letter in a box and have it pushed through the door of anyone in the whole country is very cheap indeed.