UK 2nd class post moves to alternate days

The mail regulator OfCom announced this time last year that a major reform to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) would be take place which would allow Royal Mail (RM)  to reduce the frequency of 2nd class letter delivery.

After small area trials, RM said that this process would be rolled out across the country and that they would deliver 2nd class letters on alternate days only, Monday to Friday, with no 2nd class letter delivery on Saturdays.  First class mail will continue six days a week and parcels seven days a week.

Several people have sent me copies of the door-drop leaflet which explains this to households (thank you!). As these seem to be spreading across the country I didn't give it a high priority while I had other things to write about and it was very hot.

But here, especially for international readers, is the leaflet.

If you can't read the small print, click on the image for an enlargement.

That isn't specific, and you have to visit the website to see it explained.  But the 3-day promise might mean delivery on Day 7.

The Royal Mail website has the to be expected "why we're doing this" and this will enable us to "deliver a more reliable and sustainable service for you in the future".

The 'deliver in three days' aim will produce this, which clearly shows that there are some days when it makes no sense to send 2nd class.

I'm not sure how this works.  If a letter is posted to be on Monday then I might get it on Thursday. But if this is the week (Week A) when I get three 2nd class deliveries, I won't get it until Friday - unless by some error it is delivered on Wednesday.  And if it's posted on Tuesday on a B Week, then I won't get it until the following Monday.  

That is probably acceptable for most incoming mail, but the charts they show on their website are not accurate. 

UPDATE 7 July.   
A postman I spoke to said that the new system is not yet fully implemented at their Delivery Office but that so far there is no 2nd class delivery on Saturday.  When implemented they will use Week A in the diagram above, ie everyone will get mail on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week.  This may change as the system beds in.

More interestingly the delivery pyramid is now

Special Delivery & Parcels*
1st class stamped
Tracked24/48 & 1st class
2nd class per the plan

The prioritisation of 1st class stamped mail reflects that it will generally be social mail (with most business mail being 2nd class and/or postage paid impression/meter).  So small (stamp dealer) businesses using stamps on their mail should be an improvement in delivery times to their customers.

 * Most local delivery offices were built decades ago and laid out for mass letter volumes and fewer parcels so delivery of parcels on day 1 is essential to avoid congestion now that there is so much mail order business. 

The bulk of letter post is 2nd class.  By switching that to alternate days each delivery person will be expected to do the normal round and then half of another round. 

 

Australia Post did it differently when they made the change, but I'm not sure their leaflet is any easier to understand, and they certainly should have corrected a few typos here.

Again, it's all for our own benefit.

Some 2nd class mail doesn't have a clear date on which it was posted, so we can never be sure how well the service is performing.  

But I doubt it will persuade many of us to pay twice as much for 1st class.

 

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Five New Machin Priority Service Stamps - 28 February 1995

In February 2009 Royal Mail issued the first self-adhesive definitive NVIs and high values stamps with new security features.  This was the birth of the Machin Security Stamps which indirectly lead to the bulk of posts on this blog over the next decade.

Then in November two surprise additions to the series were added, the Recorded Signed For 1st class and 1st class Large to “satisfy an operational demand at Post Office counters”.

As we know these were self-adhesive, die cut, with security features, with slits through the stamp and with iridescent printing across the design.   The slits were said to be designed to inhibit the removal of these Stamps for fraudulent sale and re-use.

But although this was described as an innovation it wasn't actually new – the concept originated in 1994, as shown in an internal Royal Mail document found by one of our contributors MM.

This document shows that Royal Mail were considering special stamps for Priority Servics with what would seem to be the very same security features.

“The stamps will be self-adhesive and die-cut, 25 to a sheet, with additional security features because of he stamp's premium.”

Design: a centrally-placed embossed Machin head (29.5 mm), with the service indicator at the bottom of the stamp which would be of similar colour and branding to the specific services. Unfortunately there are no pictures (in any case it is a black and white potocopy) and we don't know what colours they were planning. I suspect predominently dark blue iwith different inscriptions, per this leaflet.

(More on the new labelling and system below.) 

The costs of the service, and therefore of the stamps, is shown as follows.

Recorded Delivery - 55p

Special Delivery - £2.70

Registered - £3.00

Registered Plus to £1500 - £3.30

Registered Plus to £2200 - £3.60

Note that these are supplementary stamps – in addiition to 1st class postage (or a choice of 2nd or 1st for Recorded Delivery) for the weight concerned.

The issue date was to be 28 February 1995 with stamp cards (PHQ cards), presentation packs, and “philatelic souvenir covers”, which is an odd way of saying First Day Covers. 

The alternative postmark was Windsor (with the primary one obviously being Philatelic Bureau Edinburgh).

No printer was identified at this stage.

Click on the image to see it enlarged

So what happened? Why did this apparently good idea, suggested with the new 1993 branding, fail to be implemented?

Was it problems with Post Office counters, with users, with separation of the different classes in the mail stream?

Maybe someone decided that using an extra stamp for the priority service would be a problem, although it could reduce the number of stamps required. (Stamp dealers of course would have plenty of other value postage to use!)

One thing I do know – if these had been introduced in 1994 as planned, I would not have been as involved in Machin Security Stamps as I came to be in 2009/10 etc. At that time I had not retired, and my interest in Machins was far reduced from its previous peak, and my focus switched to the stamps and postal history of the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

On the other hand, I would have been able to put more focus onto the aforementioned, and Great Britain modern postal history and usages, and I might not have as many boxes to go through now.

 

More on Priority Services.

When introduced in 1961 Recorded Delivery used yellow labels which over the years varied to several different shades of orange. Registered Mail, of course, had used numbered blue 'R” labels for over a century, and Special Delivery was identified by a white on green label for many decades.

The June 1993 leaflet 'Now Even Better” illustrated the labels for the new services (shown above), which used dark blue in all cases, which I thought could lead to confusion compared with the previous system. Although the labels stuck on envelopes and packets had different text, further confusion was possible for users as the Registered and Special Delivery (SD) forms were both headed Guaranteed Delivery. In fact it really made no difference to processing as both Guaranteed Delivery services provided the same service, the only difference being that SD paid up to £24 compensation, and Registered paid up to £500.

Recorded retained an orange aspect, Registered had a light blue background to the number labels, and SD had an orange background to the number labels.  Soon afterwards pre-paid postal stationery envelopes were introduced.

From the top, Registered Plus, indicated by the pale blue + at the foot, Registered, and Special Delivery which is lighter blue.

 Here's an example from March 1994.

It's impossible to know, apart from by the postage paid, which service is being used (and not necessarily then!).  In this case postage is £3.08 which is 38p first class postage for a 40-100 g first class letter plus £2.70 Special Delivery fee. 

For the delivery postman it is clear that this is a priority item, but for tracking at any stage from the post office counter to delivery the barcode on the reverse has to be scanned.  Did posties carry any barcode readers then?  

By 1995 a further rebranding introduced the Silver Service for inland Special Delivery and from from 12th October 1998 they were all combined into a single rebranded service under the Special Delivery banner.  (GB Philatelic Society)

This is an interesting and relatively short-lived period in British Postal History affecting more expensive mail than just ordinary letters.  Material is not easy to find, but stamp dealers were always big users of premium services and their covers are more likely to be kept.

I've got more like the one above, but not many.  This will be the subject of a post on the Modern Postal History blog some time.

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Waterfalls - 2nd & 1st class stamps issued 23 June 2026

Tomorrow, June 23rd, Royal Mail will issue a set of 10 stamps depicting Waterfalls across the United Kingdom.  The set consists of 5 each of 2nd class and 1st class stamps.

Normally, under the heading "Reason and Inspiration" in the information pack provided to dealers there are a couple of paragraphs explaining why this subject and why now, but in this case it is just one short sentence:

A celebration of some of the UK's most enchanting and spectacular waterfalls from across the four nations of the UK.

So that describes what we see, and indeed it is true that we are attracted to waterfalls, the sound and sight of water gushing over a precipice or rocks as sometimes thousands of gallons a minute hurtle past us on the way to the sea, even though they pale into insignificance when compared to some of the giants of the world.   Alongside is one that we found near Crossconnell in the Republic of Ireland, that was well worth the short walk. (And I can recommend The Rusty Nail in the village for a good meal and a good pint!)

Attractive stamps and if they are used some people will recognise places that they have visited, while others my be inspired to visit locations that they have never been to, even though they may live not far away.  The key there is, "if they are used" - please report any non-philatelic usage you see!

The stamps

5 x 1st class, 5 x 2nd class stamps depicting waterfalls issued 23 June 2026.

Details

2nd class: Rogie Falls: Near Contin, Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands, Scotland. On the River Blackwater, famous for salmon leaping the falls. 
Pollnagollum Cave: Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Pollnagollum Cave Waterfall is a small waterfall within the Belmore Forest. Polnagollum Cave was a filming location for Game of Thrones.
Aysgarth Falls: Lower Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England. A series of broad stepped waterfalls on the River Ure within the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Pistyll Rhaeadr: Near Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Powys, Wales. Often cited as the tallest single-drop waterfall in Wales.
Becky Falls: Dartmoor National Park, Devon, England. A woodland waterfall trail with granite cascades.  
1st class: Hardraw Force: Hardraw, near Hawes, North Yorkshire.  England's highest single-drop waterfall on Hardraw Beck. 
Rhaeadr y Graig Lwyd (Conwy Falls): Near Betws-y-Coed, Conwy, North Wales. A powerful waterfall on the River Conwy, just downstream of Fairy Glen.
Fairy Pools of Glen Brittle: Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Crystal-clear pools and cascades on the Allt Coir' a' Mhadaidh below the Cullin mountains.
High Force: Upper Teesdale, County Durham. One of England's most dramatic waterfalls, on the River Tees.
Ess‐na‐Larach (Eas na Larach): Scottish Highlands. A lesser-known Highland waterfall; the name is Gaelic and may appear with slight spelling variations depending on map/source.  My thanks to KW for pointing out an error here, which is confirmed by Royal Mail's own map: Ess-na-Larach is in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Technical details and acknowledgements

Studio Mean is responsible for the design of the 37 x 35 mm stamps which are printed in litho on gummed paper by Cartor Security Printers in sheets of 50, perforated 14½ x 14.  The 2nd class have a single central phosphor band and the 1st class two bands.

Rogie Falls, photograph © Simon Hird, featured with kind permission of Forestry and Land Scotland; Pollnagollum Cave, photograph © Ken Stone, featured with kind permission of Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark. Aysgarth Falls, photograph © Robin Weaver/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority; Pistyll Rhaeadr, photograph © Alan Williams/naturepl.com, featured with kind permission of Phillip Facey and January Elwood; Becky Falls, photograph © John Coombes/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Becky Falls Ancient Woodland Park;  Hardraw Force, photograph © Stuart Hodgson, The Hiking Photographer, featured with kind permission of Hardraw Force Heritage Centre; Conwy Falls, photograph © Simon Stapley/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Conwy Falls Forest Park; Fairy Pools of Glen Brittle, photograph © George Maciver/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of the MacLeod Estate; High Force, photograph © steven gillis hd9 imaging/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Raby Estates; Ess-na-Larach, photograph © Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Locations, from the FDC filler card: 

Locations of waterfalls shown on the stamps.

Products available

Set of 10 stamps, first day cover, presentation pack, stamp cards, framed set of mint stamps.

 

Coming up 

News about the next stamp issue, Moths, should appear here around 2 July.

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Slogan postmarks for June 2026 - and other interesting postal markings.

There should be some new slogans in June. but we can start off with the British Heart Foundation standard slogan from Edinburgh Mail Centre on 01-06-2026, thanks to JH. 

British Heart Foundation Edinburgh Mail Centre 01-06-2026

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This will be interrupted in the next few days as Royal Mail honour our Armed Forces.

Armed Forces Week should start on 19 June for deliveries on 20th - 23rd.

Armed Forces Day should start on 23rd June for deliveries on 24th - 26th June. 

The British Heart Foundation should follow again after that.

 So let's hope some of us receive stamped mail with some of these usages.  

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Armed Forces Week 22nd - 28th June 2026.  LT has sent a good example from Sheffield 20/06/2026, and JM a similar one from North West Midlands 22/06/2026

Armed Forces Week North West Midlands 22/06/2026

Armed Forces Week Sheffield Mail Centre 20/06/2026

I actually received one of these from Nottingham dated 23rd but it isn't as good as these! 

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Armed Forces Day 27 June 2026

Again, thanks to LT for one from Sheffield dated 26/06/2026 - a very clean example!  And JM has sent a one at the other extreme. so much so that I can't work out where it is from!

Armed Forces Day Sheffield Mail Centre 26/06/2026

 

Armed Forces Day, ? Mail Centre 24?-06-2026

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British Heart Foundation standard slogan was then reused; here's an example from Manchester Mail Centre 29/06/2026.

British Heart Foundation Manchester Mail Centre 29/06/2026

 

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OTHER POSTMARKS AND POSTAL MARKINGS

This year marks the 50th birthday of the Postal Mechanisation Study Circle.  I'm not a member of this (but I am a member of several specialist societies), but I exchange information with their Jeremy Meal.  

"The Circle's liaison contact at Royal Mail has been able to produce a further development of our 25th (and before that, as an ordinary slogan die cancel, a 15th) Anniversary slogan for our current 50th Anniversary celebrations; kindly produced towards the end of May at Bristol MC on an IMP.  

50th Anniversary of Postal Mechanisation Study Circle 

Jeremy writes:  

Please find attached a scan of the slogan itself (above) plus the whole envelope with the commemorative text description in the style of the previous series of PMSC covers, but not numbered 301 as we stopped production at 300 in the series. 

I now have permission, on a first come first served basis, to make spares available (while stocks last!) to slogan collectors more widely but only on a one per person basis on application to me at the address on the cover at a price of £4 (UK), £7 (International) to cover production costs and mailing out. 

Please make your cheque payable to the Postal Mechanisation Study Circle (written in full NOT abbreviated PMSC) and NOT made out to Jeremy but please remember to tell him your address so it can be posted back out to you!! Just to repeat, Jeremy's address is on the illustration of the cover here on this blog entry, please don't write to us at Norphil! 

Jeremy has also sent a copy of the 'proof' showing how the slogan was set up.  This also shows us that there might be space at the left of the place and date portion for something else.

 

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Thanks to JF for these three branch postmarks.   Firstly one that simply reads MARK 09 JUN 2026.  Now if you didn't know there was a village with the simple name of MARK you might think that there was something missing!  I actually went through it last year, when we were in Somerset.  The origin of the name is believed to mean A boundary of property from the Old English mærc.

Mark, Somerset, Morse-style counter datestamp.

Mark Post Office & Village Stores from Google Streetview.

Staying in Somerset, the name of Windwhistle is a historic, rural hamlet and high ridge in South Somerset near Cricket St Thomas, best known for the 17th-century Windwhistle Inn, said to be the only pub with that name in the country - and now even that seems to be closed.

But the post office is in the Bournville area of Weston-Super-Mare (who knew that there was another one, where they don't make chocolate?!), and is apparently named after another Windwhistle inn (Facebook link) which opened in 1954, was replaced in 1963, and later demolished for more modern housing.   (We visited a Windwhistle west of Christchurch in New Zealand; that one is a gorge rather than a ridge, used for white water sports.) 

Windwhistle self-inking datestamp 30 DE 24

Windwhistle post office from Google Streetview 2024

Fore Street post office in Taunton, Somerset, is located in T G Jones, ex W H Smith, so it may not be in this location for much longer.  JF obtained s copy of the self-inking datestamp dated 12 MY 26.

Fore Street Post Office self-inking datestamp 12 MY 26

Fore Stret Taunton from Google Streetview

There are many semi-anonymous postmarks in this blog, and MANOR STORES joins them as another one.  This seems to actually be LOCKING post office, Somerset, which is located in a Spar Shop and which is quite difficult to see on the limited Google Streetview images.

Self-inking datestamp for Locking post office inscribed Manor Stores.

This Google Streetview snap from 2024 shows the Post Office sign quite clearly but only if there are no cars parked in front of the sign!  In 2017 the logo on the building was higher, but the introduction of the Spar put a stop to that!  

Locking (Somerset) post office, aka Manor Stores.

 

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It can't have escaped your notice that this year marks the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America.  They have a number of different nationwide slogans.  RW has sent this example from Wichita KS, of the 'Freedom 250' slogan.

USPS Freedom 250 slogan Wichita KS, June 2026.

 

 

 

 

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Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in June will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.  

For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.

For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.  

Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format. 

I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.

The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time.  

I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.

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Oops - sorry I forgot to tell you we were taking a break!

I'm back now from nearly four weeks in Ireland (via Holyhead, Wales, this time) which accounts for the silence here - sorry I forgot to announce it.  

If you emailed you would have got an 'out of office' reply and if you posted a comment on the blog it would have been moderated as soon as we had good enough mobile data or wifi.  

As soon as I have dealt with household administration and sorted out our next holiday arrangements (I had a call to pay the balance while I was in Co. Donegal!) I'll be back here with news of the next stamp issues (moths and military aircraft), news of postmark slogans, and a few pictures of things from Ireland.

Blog view figures 

I don't really look at the detail very often, I just notice, from time to time, the figure ticking over.  But I did just look at some peaks and there was clearly something amiss on a couple of occasions, so we shouldn't read too much into the figures.

This is for the MONTH of January 2025

But this was for a single day - can't be genuine visitors!

 

 

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