Stock-pile stamps now, Royal Mail customers told

[fishtank]

An interesting quote from Consumer Focus today...

‘In the worst case it could result in a financially troubled Royal Mail, which remained in public hands, imposing higher and higher prices on its dwindling customer base and with its modernisation programme mired in industrial relation problems,’ a spokesman for Customer Focus said

Somebody should tell the PEC...

[hubbahubba]

That's not what RM want LL.
They want a "council telly" version because it gives them the freedom to do what they want with the premium service without the inconvenience of having to justify the affordability of the service to Ofcom.
What you will find is that the service level you get for your "pleb stamp" will be downgraded to the point where you would be quicker training your own carrier pigeons.

I still think they want just one class of mail like before January 1969.
They will scrap second class because (1) there's less income from it but it still costs about the same to deliver as first class (2) second class is only a small proportion of stamped mail (3) no need to segregate first and second class, which isn't done anyway ahead of Christmas and (4) set an achievable target for delivering a given percentage of the single class of mail the next working day, within a couple of days or whatever.
Mark my words, it'll happen within a couple of years.

I would argue with your second point,at least as far as packets are concerned.
At the Mailcentre there are far more 2nd class packets than 1st,and even stamped letters are around a 50/50 mix IMO?

Saying all this,i would still agree with your original point,in that i also think that RM would prefer a "standard" pricing structure,while retaining the special delivery or something similar for next day delivery.

[Talell]

it's around 60/40 2c/1c retrospectively, but would vary locally

[Lounge Lizard]

Maybe I was wrong with "second class is only a small proportion of stamped mail", perhaps something I had heard from Royal Mail - and no more true than 'mail volumes dropping' - probably wishful thinking on their part and perhaps something of a self fulfilling prophecy with only first class stamps now sold at many retail outlets, likewise no second class option I think with 'post and go' stamps and no second class 'special definitives' for the Olympics or Queen's Diamond Jubilee.