Public shock Morning Live over prices in feature on Ofcom’s plans to slash 2nd class service
The row over Ofcom’s plans to slash second-class postal deliveries has reached the BBC breakfast show Morning Live with a segment asking the public for their thoughts – shockingly many had no idea how much stamps cost.
Presenter Gethin Jones took to the streets of Manchester for the show on Friday, 7 February, having discussed with co-host Kimberley Walsh the industry regulator’s proposal to cut the service from six days a week to every other day and not on Saturdays.
Telling members of the public Royal Mail is backing the changes, he got a range of guesses for stamp prices from 10p through to £7, and also heard from people who have never sent a letter or card through the post.
One man said: “If they want to make a profit, then you’ve got to cut your cloth,” while his partner added: “Really, it’s not fair when older people want a birthday card and then they’re not getting them on the birthday, they think you’ve not sent it. I posted one first class, and it took about eight to 10 days, so I was not happy.”
Most people said they received cards on their birthdays, while the younger woman who guessed that first-class stamps cost £7 told Gethin: “My nan sends me letters. It’ll be a card, and on the back it’ll be full of words. It’s really sweet.”
A gent said he’d got used to the postal delays over the past 12-18 months, but then told how he’d “sent a birthday card Thursday teatime and they actually got it Saturday morning, second class”!
Gethin was amazed by two younger guys who thought a stamp was just 10p and admitted they’d never sent a letter because “now that you have phones, you don’t need to” and he urged them to try it, adding: “Send someone a letter, see the way that makes them feel.”
The show should have used the excellent reel – see below – by post box fan and Two For Joy publisher Louise Richardson, who posted an Instagram explanation of the issue, focusing on Ofcom and Royal Mail’s plan to use first class, with its unregulated price structure, to meet the legally-binding universal service obligation whereby letters must be delivered six days a week to all addresses in the UK for the same price.
It moves the USO away from second-class post, where the price is capped and currently sits at 85p, while parcels have to be delivered five days although Royal Mail is generally over-delivering there at the moment.
Louise also highlights the GCA’s petition calling for parliamentary scrutiny of any plans to amend Royal Mail’s service, which now has nearly 7,000 signatories, getting close to the 10,000 needed for the government to respond – if it hits 100,000 it will be considered for debate in parliament.
