No.69 Express Parcels – or perhaps just Second Class

I was tempted recently by one of the larger Internet Stores to purchase an ‘end of line’ bargain.

It has been in my mind for some time that I should add the Hornby L1 to the railway.  Ideally I would have liked 67777, a Darlington engine (51A) which featured prominently during my train spotting days around Stockton and Middlesbrough.

However the Hornby model on offer was 67722, which in 1959 was shedded at Bishops Stortford (30C).  Interestingly my Ian Allan books show that by 1961 engine number 67722 had been moved out to Cambridge (31A).
 
Never mind I added 67722 to my ‘basket’ and proceeded to the ‘Check Out’.  Perhaps I was feeling nervous about the Post and felt that I needed a service that offered some tracking. Unusually for me, I selected Express Delivery.

The engine was probably ordered too late in the day for delivery on the Saturday and it arrived with our usual Postie on the Monday morning. There was a knock on the door, the parcel was handed over, we exchanged pleasantries about the sunshine and the postman disappeared - with no signature.  It was a big box and the bubble wrapped engine was rattling around inside.  All that was on the outside of the box was a little polythene envelope with a window showing my address -together with a symbol for Royal Mail Second Class.

There were no stickers with tracking numbers, no sender’s address and no adhesive ‘stamps’ from Royal Mail.  I began to conclude that the parcel had only been posted Royal Mail Second Class.

At the Check Out there had been the option to select Second Class (£3.95) or Express Delivery (£7.99)- a big difference.   I felt aggrieved, in fact worse than that I felt cheated. 
 
I contacted the retailer who initially replied that “All invoices have the 2nd  class stamp pre-printed on  them, however they actually get sent. It saves us a lot of time, as the majority of parcels go this way, or via courier.s”. 

I was not convinced and subsequently received a refund for the difference between Express and Second Class postage.
Express Parcels or Second Class only?
 
I am not sure what to think.  The parcel arrived very quickly, but so does a lot of our post.  If I was ISO 9001 Accredited then I might be wanting to see a little more evidence and perhaps some record keeping.  Otherwise it might just appear to me to be a good way of maintaining profits on ‘sales goods’.

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