First Class Post Or Special Delivery

[Geezer]

http://www.hellmail.co.uk/postalnews/te ... &zoneid=10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


8 January 2009 by Steve Lawson

Now and again a story surfaces in the press about someone who has lost something valuable in the post and recieved six first class stamps for their troubles. Whilst such stories can often be fleshed out to seven or eight paragraphs, they rarely make the tabloids, much less a broadsheet and all too often wind up in the 'human interest' section of the local newspaper.

I must admit, I tend to lose interest after the first paragraph. particularly when it becomes blatantly obvious that the entire mess has been due due to the frugal or even ignorant nature of the sender. Royal Mail is actually quite clear about what it will and won't pay compensation for and has in more recent years improved the way it responds to these kind of matters but you'll still find people trying to send a few hundred pounds cash via first class mail.

There is however, a worrying trend in that although the sender clearly bears some responsibility for making sure valuable items are properly insured (ie Special Delivery), consumers are increasingly being pushed towards buying more expensive products like Special Delivery.

Its worth bearing in mind that Royal Mail tends to steer clear of the word 'theft', preferring the catch-all 'loss' instead, which covers just about everything including falling down the back of a machine or being badly addressed. The latter is a massive job for Royal Mail. Every week, thousands of items get lost in the system and all undeliverable post is sent to the Royal Mail's national returns centre in Belfast.

The Returns Centre is a real Sherlock Holmes affair, with experienced staff doing all they can to reunite people with their mail.They are responsible for all undeliverable mail throughout the United Kingdom, said to be 35 million items a year and covers almost every item you could think of. Staff say its not unusual to find completely unaddressed envelopes with huge sums of money inside. They also find locusts and crickets, the staple diet of many domestic reptiles.

They handle items with incomplete addresses, or because the person has moved, died and if there is no return address on the outside of the item, it ends up in Belfast as it is the only office in Royal Mail that is permitted to open items. Returns can hold items for up to six months, all of which are carefully described and catalogued so that Royal Mail customer services can check if a customer's lost item has been found.

Hellmail has a whole section on preparing items for posting and whilst I've occasionally come in for criticism by being somewhat alarmist on the need for adequate packaging, its true to say that if your item cannot withstand being thrown to the floor, it almost certainly is not packaged properly. As a rule, I make sure my own address is always on the outside and inside of items I post and I never post Special Delivery items beyond Thursday if the item could not withstand being left in a cold depot over the weekend.

Any postal worker will tell you that the Royal Mail's own guide on packaging is based on common sense. I have to say, sending a few hundred pounds in an envelope with a first class stamp on, strikes me as riding shotgun with the law of unpredictability but many thousands of ebay items travel via 'Signed For' which only covers items up to a maximum value of £36. That might seem risky, but for many sellers in a hugely competitive market, postage costs can make or break a sale and any losses over the year could still be much less than a years worth of 'special Delivery' items.

As with any insurance, cases that are doubtful are generally thrown out or handed to the 'six first class stamps' team. People do try to play Royal Mail's compensation system, so each is looked at on its own merits.

Around six months ago, Hellmail ran an experiment and sent £100 cash in a jiffy bag (first class) from one end of Britain to the other and it arrived safely, but when you send any item, make sure it is properly addressed, well packaged and certainly insured (Special Delivery) if you can't afford to lose it. Recorded or 'Signed For' as it is now known, is only really suitable for documents and does not get the preferential treatment enjoyed by Special Delivery - Royal Mail's flagship product.

I am reminded of my Grandmother (long gone) who used to send me a half-crown through the post on my birthday. It is amazing that it ever reached me when you consider the many processes it must have gone through but heres my tip if you don't want money vanishing from greetings cards, and one I've used for many years - use a note rather than coins and send it in a brown envelope. No one likes bills.

[andy2007]

Nice one Steve!

That's a really good article. It's just a pity that it hasn't ended up in the Papers, as it could save a lot of trouble, for a lot of (rather nieve) people. Who still insist on sending cash, via 1st Class, or Recorded Delivery.

Hellmail certainly seem to be showing us in a much better light these days. Don't they.

Thanks for posting this Geezer.

[POSTMAN]

I before E except after C