R M reject that first class stamps are a waste of money

[POSTMAN]

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Royal Mail reject that first class stamps are a waste of money for Manchester

Royal Mail has rejected claims that first class stamps are a waste of money after councils in Manchester and Lancashire opted for the cheaper 2nd class service.

Manchester city council wll save £200,000 by replacing its use of the 'next day' delivery service with 2nd class stamps. Officials in Lancashire have adopted the same policy in a cost-saving exercise.

And town hall chiefs in Manchester say they are licking the system since they have evidence there is no real difference between the delivery times of 1st and 2nd mail.

Royal Mail deny the charge that 2nd Class letters usually arrive in just the same amount of time as 1st class.

Cash-strapped Manchester council said that in looking for savings tests were carried-out on the relative speed of 1st and 2nd Class deliveries inside the city.

The Manchester City Council report said: "Test exercises have identified that there is generally no delivery date difference, within Manchester, in sending mail first or second class."

The report urged a change to 2nd class "as standard " and the move was approved by councillors.

But Royal Mail has seen red over the "no difference" claims saying that 1st class mail gets real priority.

Royal Mail spokesman Heulyn Gwyn Davis said: "There is a clear distinction between first class and second class mail and this is reflected in how we process and deliver mail across the UK.

"First class mail continues to be our first priority every day of our working week. Our priority is to deliver first class mail the next working day.

"The specification for second class mail remains to deliver it within three working days after posting."

Labour MP Rosie Cooper has demanded national research to establish whether there is a real difference between first and second class post.

The West Lancashire MP said: "The research carried out in Manchester suggests that consumers - at least those in major conurbations - are being misled on the supposed advantage offered by paying for a 1st class stamp.

"If the Post Office is going to sell first class stamps they need to show consumers what they would get for their money that is different to second class post.

"I would like similar independent research to be carried-out in Lancashire and elsewhere to establish the national picture."

Sara Tomkins, Manchester City Council Assistant Chief Executive, said: "Manchester City Council currently spends more than #1.6 million a year sending more than 4.5 million items of mail a year.

"The biggest cost of this is with Royal Mail."

Ms Tomkins explained that moving to second class delivery was in tandem with a wider strategy to reduce the amount of mail the council sends.

She added: "We are moving towards electronic payslips for staff rather than mailing them out and are looking to correspond with residents digitally when they say they would prefer us to do so.

"This will drive down costs, as well as reducing our carbon footprint, without diluting the service to Manchester residents."

A post room worker at Lancashire County Council said: "We have been posting everything second class for the past two months.

"It's a money saving measure that came from the top. It was a decision by the big bosses.

"If we ever need to use first class, it has to be approved by the Assistant Chief Executive, Eddie Sutton."

[Lounge Lizard]

Glass half empty syndrome yet again.
Not 'Second Class is good value' but 'First class is bad value'
Yes, it is grim up north with them all acting like that.

[blackadder]

2nd class stamps will cost the same for couple years unlike 1st class which will go up and up. trouble is when 1 council dos it the rest will follow. lucky they using 2nd class and not e-mail

[blue1873]

Can understand why bulk posters to local areas would choose 2nd class before 1st,as at our MC we
sometimes infill with 2nd class if it's a quiet night or the night air service is late,im pretty sure most
MCs will do the same therefore 2nd class becomes 1st.How about a one price stamp with a if not a
next day delivery then guaranteed 2nd day delivery, admittedly they would have to bring back two
deliveries a day for this but hey the crap system they have forced in at the moment aint working
we dont like it,the customer does'nt like it and RM wont admit they have made a Jeremy Hunt of it.
Am i tilting at windmills with this or stuck in a time warp with two deliveries a day.

[Lounge Lizard]

Can understand why bulk posters to local areas would choose 2nd class before 1st,as at our MC we
sometimes infill with 2nd class if it's a quiet night or the night air service is late,im pretty sure most
MCs will do the same therefore 2nd class becomes 1st.How about a one price stamp with a if not a
next day delivery then guaranteed 2nd day delivery, admittedly they would have to bring back two
deliveries a day for this but hey the crap system they have forced in at the moment aint working
we dont like it,the customer does'nt like it and RM wont admit they have made a Jeremy Hunt of it.
Am i tilting at windmills with this or stuck in a time warp with two deliveries a day.

Two deliveries a day will NEVER return.
A one price stamp won't return as Second Class postage rates are pegged but I think Royal Mail can charge what they like for First Class and they wouldn't want to give that up.
As for 'we dont like it,the customer does'nt like it' that's irrelevant, it's all about profit.

[PostieSP1]

True though for the last several years or so i deliver most 2nd Class the day after it was posted everyday of the week so whats the point of them?

Southampton MC are either doing something wrong or they are very good at clearing all mail...

[DGP1]

True though for the last several years or so i deliver most 2nd Class the day after it was posted everyday of the week so whats the point of them?

Southampton MC are either doing something wrong or they are very good at clearing all mail...

Same over here from the NIMC, second class usually come through the next day.............is it any wonder people are dumping 1st for 2nd.

[PhilthyPhil]

Can the CFCs actually seperate 1c and 2c stamps? Although I expect they are actually using meter and not stamps as the article says. The thing with councils is they are mostly sending intra mail hence a lot of the 2c gets pushed through early, 2c distant is very unlikely to get there next day. Maybe 2c which is sorted early could be held back after sorting and dispatched next day instead.

[SpacePhoenix]

cfcs seperate first from second class when a traditional postage stamp is used but I would assume that if horizon, meter, ppi, mailsort, smartstamp is used then it would probably spit them out to be manually seperated into 1st and 2nd class.

[TeeferTiger]

I only use 2nd class most of the time now. I've had 2nd class arrive 40 miles away, the day after posting, 4 days before Xmas

[luddite]

If our local authority have a bulk posting then they will send it out on a Friday, second class, as it always gets delivered next day, they did some trials and they have saved a fortune apparently!