Proof that posting a first-class letter on Saturday is a was

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has proved that people who put first-class stamps on letters they post on Saturdays are wasting their money.

Last week, we revealed how the Royal Mail was secretly processing first and second-class mail in an identical way at weekends.

Now, our survey has found that letters posted on Saturdays land on doormats at the same time, regardless of their class.
Classless: Our investigation showed that both first and second-class mail posted at the same time is delivered on the same day

Classless: Our investigation showed that both first and second-class mail posted at the same time is delivered on the same day

We posted 20 first and second-class letters last Saturday morning from locations as diverse as Glasgow and the village of Ditchling near the South Coast. In the not-too-distant past, the post would have arrived in dribs and drabs throughout the first half of the week.

But, on this occasion, all of the letters arrived through the letterbox of a South-West London address by 9am on Monday. Though a demonstration of the efficiency of the postal service, it also showed that paying 10p more for a first-class stamp for mail posted on Saturday made no difference.
The Mail on Sunday's front-page report last week

The Mail on Sunday's front-page report last week

The Royal Mail insists that it retains the distinction between first-class post, which should be delivered on the next working day, and second class, which should arrive within three working days.

But leaked confidential documents show that, in reality, the postal service is processing both classes on Saturdays instead of leaving second-class post until Mondays, to streamline its system and save money.

The documents, which were distributed to managers in mail centres and delivery offices in June, said: ‘Second-class traffic posted Friday and Saturday will be processed along with first class posted Saturday, using Saturday first-class labels.’

It added: ‘Moving the traffic forward to a Saturday dispatch and ceasing Monday’s second-class dispatch is the most viable and cost-effective option that also protects quality.’
Revelations: The locations where our test letters were posted

Revelations: The locations where our test letters were posted

To test the system, we sent ten pairs of letters from a range of locations early last Saturday. In each pair, one had a 46p first-class stamp and the other a 36p second-class stamp.

All arrived two days later. Letters were sent from Central Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow and Harlesden in North-West London.

They were also posted from Endmoor, near Kendal in Cumbria, Wimborne in Dorset, Ditchling in East Sussex, Wymondham in Norfolk and Woburn in Bedfordshire.

The Royal Mail was able to merge its first and second-class operations on Saturdays because overall mail volumes have fallen significantly as people increasingly communicate by email, and less post is sent on Saturdays compared with weekdays.

Although the majority of post on Saturdays is business bulk mail, industry experts estimated that about seven million letters with stamps are posted, of which three million are first class. Experts thus estimated that people may have wasted up to £4 million on first-class stamps used on Saturday mail since the new system was introduced in July.

The Royal Mail has disputed this, but has not given its own figure.

As part of our investigation, we also posted a first-class and a second-class letter on Thursday from each of the aforementioned ten locations.

The following day, nine first-class letters arrived and just three second-class, suggesting that during the week it is worth spending the extra money on a first-class stamp.

A spokesman for the Forum of Private Business said: ‘This survey confirms that first and second-class post is being processed together. Our members who spend extra for a first-class stamp are being cheated.’

A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘There has been no change at all in the service specification for first and second-class mail. The specification for second-class mail is still to deliver it within three working days after posting.

‘There is no commitment from Royal Mail that second-class mail posted on a Saturday will arrive earlier than the specification.

‘Mail volumes on a Saturday are very much lower than in the rest of the week, and stamped mail makes up a very small fraction of it.

‘To help reduce the losses on running the six-day service, Royal Mail is no longer running a dedicated transport network for the small proportion of second-class mail posted on a Saturday.’

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

[arnold cheshire]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

id say if the replacement item is more expensive tesco will charge the full price. but the thing is with tesco one day a product is say 99p then the next its £1.29 explain that ? baffles me

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

id say if the replacement item is more expensive tesco will charge the full price. but the thing is with tesco one day a product is say 99p then the next its £1.29 explain that ? baffles me

No I get my groceries delivered by them and they only charge the price for the original item not the full price of the replacement. For instance I ordered a 2Lt bottle of Coke -
Tesco own Brand is 54p - they had none in store so I got a 2l Coca Cola bottle normally £1.78 for 54p

[hubbahubba]

As i posted on the MC forum,yesterday was a nightmare.Minimal 1c,but the 2nd class was the heaviest i've seen for a long time!We left the managers sorting it by the end of the shift.
The genie is well and truly out of the bottle!

[arnold cheshire]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

id say if the replacement item is more expensive tesco will charge the full price. but the thing is with tesco one day a product is say 99p then the next its £1.29 explain that ? baffles me

No I get my groceries delivered by them and they only charge the price for the original item not the full price of the replacement. For instance I ordered a 2Lt bottle of Coke -
Tesco own Brand is 54p - they had none in store so I got a 2l Coca Cola bottle normally £1.78 for 54p

ok thats good personally i would of thought if an item was out of stock thats it they didnt supply it or charge for it

[hubbahubba]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

id say if the replacement item is more expensive tesco will charge the full price. but the thing is with tesco one day a product is say 99p then the next its £1.29 explain that ? baffles me

No I get my groceries delivered by them and they only charge the price for the original item not the full price of the replacement. For instance I ordered a 2Lt bottle of Coke -
Tesco own Brand is 54p - they had none in store so I got a 2l Coca Cola bottle normally £1.78 for 54p

Tesco own brand coke?You got a blocked drain then mate?

[fishtank]

Is it a really slow news week or is it because journalists have forgotten how to find a story now that they can't hack phones any more?
This was a weak story last week...now it's just embarrassing.

[Stormproof]

Comment I left:

Again with this non-story - you really are trying to push this as a rip off rather than providing a better service.

May I suggest with your next story that you investigate Tesco on line Groceries. When they don't have the product you ordered, they replace it with a similar item. If the replacement item is more expensive they don't charge you the extra. In your scenario Tescos are therefore ripping off everyone else who ordered the expensive item and paid full price.

id say if the replacement item is more expensive tesco will charge the full price. but the thing is with tesco one day a product is say 99p then the next its £1.29 explain that ? baffles me

No I get my groceries delivered by them and they only charge the price for the original item not the full price of the replacement. For instance I ordered a 2Lt bottle of Coke -
Tesco own Brand is 54p - they had none in store so I got a 2l Coca Cola bottle normally £1.78 for 54p

Tesco own brand coke?You got a blocked drain then mate?

ha ha exactly what i was thinking

[Royal_Fail]

Anyone would think the daily mail has it in for us

[fishtank]

The Daily Mail is the only newspaper where the newsprint rubs off and leaves a stain on your soul.

[Spedley]

The Royal Mail insists that it retains the distinction between first-class post, which should be delivered on the next working day, and second class, which should arrive within three working days.

Isn't that what happened?
I can't even see a non-story there, just kind of a definition of the service.

[toofpick]

People go out and buy the Daily Mail......You can read it on-line for nothing
Shouldn't they be telling thier readers that!!!

[chunk]

So on one day in a week second class stamps receive first class treatment .
on a day in week when theres a bit of capacity in the system.
no different from a half empty hotel upgrading guests to better rooms.(Holiday Inn sometimes do this).

[TrueBlueTerrier]

One comment says:

Royal Mail stole my sat nav, will never use them again so don't really care bout this. Long live email and pdf scans, down with the unions who protect their thieving lazy staff.

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