...to think that I should expect Royal Mail to deliver even if I've only paid for second class letter?

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I'm sending a gift card for £30. I want my daughter to have something to receive on the day as everything else I've sent has been directly delivered and isn't a surprise. A gift card is small enough to send with her card.

I've just been told if I want to be sure it arrives I need to send it by special delivery. Her exact words were we can't be sure it won't go astray

So £4:30 to deliver a card

I could have sent a parcel via Yodel for less and included a present. Silly me thinking a card would get there for the cost of a stamp.

I have had so many problems with Royal Mail and stuff being delivered to the wrong address or go missing or opened and half missing. They need to sort their act out.

They will deliver, they just can't guarantee a day.

If you've put a giftcard in, than they are recommending that you upgrade postage because they would only refund the price of postage if it went missing, and you'd lose the £30 value of the giftcare.

Post it special delivery, and they'll pay the £30 plus the postage.

It sounds like the assistant knew it needed to go special delivery but forgot why, so made something up...

Yes but the OP wants her DD to have something to open 'on the day'.

Royal mail won't guarantee a day and they never have.

They just say 2nd class means they'll deliver in 2 or 3 working days, including Saturdays.

Standard wording, has been for years, don't think it's them giving the hard sell, just that in this litigious society they can't promise something they can't necessarily deliver, otherwise they would be inundated with 'claims' for missing vouchers.

Not suggesting for one second you would do that, but sadly a lot would, so if you want the 'guarantee' and the insurance that provides you have to pay for it

If you asked the poor post office clerk to guarantee that the card would arrive then of course she gave you the only answer she could.

The vast majority of mail arrives correctly and promptly. In fact I have never experienced a piece of first or second class mail that didn't turn up when it should, when I was confident it had been posted in the first place. I think "lost in the post" is an excuse used a lot by people who never posted it in the first place.

The only thing that I know for certain was lost was a special delivery birthday card from PIL which was sellotaped up so well they made it completely obvious it contained cash. I got the card through the door telling me they'd tried to deliver it but it had mysteriously disappeared by the time I went to the sorting office to collect it.

My advice would be to send it as usual, with a first class stamp if you've left it a bit late, otherwise 2nd. Obviously there are no guarantees, but I'd take a bet that it will arrive without issue.

No Worra it's not the day that was the issue.. It's actually arrival rather than being 'lost' en route that was the problem

I haven't left it late. I didn't ask for a guarantee. She asked me what was in it and I said and she said exactly what I said in my first post.

In that case I think Usually is right

It was an attempt at poorly explaining that you shouldn't send £30 without using special delivery.

I'm just surprised that the staff feel that posting via normal stamp is such a risk.

I've decided to risk it because the cost of seven special deliveries would mean I could afford to lose one sent via normal post. Bit cheesed that I should even have to view it that way!

tobeabat no commission they just have to let the customer know that cash/gift cards are not covered for loss by compensation. special deliver y guarantees next day and offers insurance. Not sure why the assistant said about the going astray angle (maybe just trying to show the peace of mind Special delivery could give?)

It's common sense really.

Putting £30 (voucher or cash) in an envelope and popping a stamp on it, has always been a risk, and one they've never recommended.

Front, annoying but that's exactly how you should look at it, if one in 8 goes AWOL you are still up!

If it's any consolation I've shipped a lot of stuff on ebay by second class stamp and never ever had something not turn up

Ah, I remember a time when putting a 2nd class stamp on a letter meant it got there two days after posting. Halcyon days!

Now it means anything between two days and two weeks.

I think if I planned to buy insurance I'd expect to pay extra. Paying to insure post is delivered was the bit that smarted. Paying in case it was washed away in a flood or burnt in a fire or run over by the van...yes but really I'm paying in case someone steals it.