A Royal Mail postman has revealed a “trade secret” that there is “no difference” between first and second-class stamps. Speaking to Matt Chorley on Times Radio, postal worker Andy Mason said the public could save some much-needed cash when sending letters and parcels because first-class stamps are “absolutely” pointless.
The DJ asked Mr Mason: “Is it a bit pointless bothering with first and second-class stamps?”
The postman’s response may shock prolific parcel-senders. He said: “Yeah, absolutely. Giving away trade secrets here, but there’s no difference between first and second-class anymore.
“Used to be when you have two deliveries, the first-class was treated more importantly, you take that out, come back, have your breakfast and then take the second-class out, but it’s all done as one delivery now.
“So not officially, but if you wanted to save some money, you wouldn’t need to bother with a first-class stamp.”
Columnist and presenter Mr Chorley tweeted a screenshot of the quote from Mr Mason, providing some context underneath his post with details about the cunning test he had undertaken, to see whether first-class stamps really were worth the money.
He wrote: “We sent 12 letters from London to addresses across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Six first-class all arrived the next day. Four second-class also arrived within a day of being posted. Two others – sent to north London and Hampshire – arrived after two days.”
