Have you heard the myth about there being no difference in speed between 1st and 2nd class post?
Some people refuse to shell out extra for a 1st class stamp, believing there is no difference in delivery times.
A recent price rise means the price difference between 1st and 2nd class stamps is wider than ever before.
1st class stamps now cost 95p – an increase in 10p from last year. 2nd class stamps cost 68p. (Prices from April 3 2023 are now £1.10 for 1st class and 75p for 2nd class).
Royal Mail recently said “significant headwinds” mean further price increases will have to take place as part of a strategy to mitigate rising operation costs.
I thought now is the perfect time to test the myth – is 1st class post really quicker than 2nd?
The Courier’s Royal Mail test rules
The test is simple. On a Monday morning, I sent 10 people a 1st and 2nd class letter at the same time.
The letters, in regular white envelopes, were posted at 11.30am from the post box on Monifieth High Street.
The stamps used were the normal 1st and 2nd class stamps which are currently purple and green and are now accompanied with a barcode.
They were sent to two colleagues in each of the four local authority areas covered by The Courier:
- Perth and Auchterarder (Perth and Kinross)
- Dundee and Broughty Ferry (Dundee)
- Buckhaven and Dalgety Bay (Fife)
- Forfar and Monifieth (Angus)
To test whether distance impacted delivery times, I also sent letters to colleagues in Glasgow and Stockton-on-Tees in England.
Royal Mail aims to deliver 1st class mail in one working day and advises two to three working days for 2nd class.
Will Royal Mail deliver? With the letters sent, there was nothing to do except wait.
When did the letters arrive?
Letters were posted on Monday.
By Tuesday all 1st class letters, except the one to Monifieth had been received.
With the final 1st class letter arriving on Wednesday.
2nd class letters were posted to the same addresses on Monday.
No 2nd class letters were delivered on Tuesday.
Six of the 2nd class letters arrived on Wednesday…
…with a further three reaching their final destinations on Thursday.
The Forfar straggler took four days to cross Angus, arriving on Friday.
You can see the full results in the chart below.
So what was the difference between 1st and 2nd class letters?
Firstly, there’s clearly a difference in the speed of 1st class and 2nd class mail in our test.
The myth that 1st class and 2nd class are treated the same has, on this occasion, been well and truly disproved.
The average delivery time for 1st class in our survey was 1.1 days compared to 2.5 days for 2nd class.
Only one person out of 10 received their mail on the same day.
There was one letter late for both 1st and 2nd class – so we found a 90% chance mail is delivered on time.
Distance did not seem to be much of a factor for delivery times.
Despite being posted in Monifieth, both late letters were to Angus addresses while the Glasgow and English recipients had their mail on time.
Of the local areas Fife and Perth came out best – all 1st class arrived after a day and all 2nd class after two days.
What do Royal Mail say about the results?
Royal Mail did not address the results of our test directly but wanted to comment on the issue of late deliveries.
It is currently facing an Ofcom investigation over the issue.
The Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time.
“We deliver to all addresses we have mail for six days a week.
“Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team.”
Is it worth paying the extra cost for 1st class?
If time is of the essence, then 1st class will get the job done the majority of the time.
If you have mail that needs to get there in two days… that’s a tougher choice.
With 2nd class we found there’s a 60% chance it will arrive in time, compared to all the 1st class letters.
If three working days is your window, we found 2nd class will get there 90% of the time.
Finally, well done Royal Mail. The much maligned service actually passed our test very well.
All letters safely delivered with only a couple a day late. 18/20 is not bad.
It remains a minor miracle that a letter collected at 5.30pm the previous evening can travel hundreds of miles to be delivered the next day.
For that level of service, the price of a first class stamp remains astonishing value. Royal Mail, you have my stamp of approval.
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