Cost of first class and second class stamps

I bought some 1st class stamps today. Before reading this thread. I had about £3 in cash my purse thinking that would be enough for a book of 12.
But they were 70p each .
So I bought 4.

Just found this, BlueBelle : Royal Mail has taken to cancelling stamps with a biro or felt tip pen thus rendering the stamps worthless.

www.stampmagazine.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=137150

I’m in Scotland but can only get the bog-standard stamps, not the Scottish ones. Also, our postman comes in a plain white van now, not a jolly red PO van.

I saw my first post-lady in shorts, the other day! V brave in such inclement weather.

Thanks Esspee. I don't collect them though, I just wanted to put them on postcards home from various parts of England but have never been able to buy them!

Second class is 61 p I think. Rarely use 1st class

Someone has to pay for the delectable shorts. The posties deserve a good salary and do a good job. To be honest we buy books of stamps so not sure how much they cost. It seems more relevant Christmas when we buy lots.

manacaz they aren’t

Philatelink do supply regional stamps @Wheniwasyourage if you want to complete your set.

Has anyone in England got a post office which sells English stamps? And no, I don't mean the standard British stamps, but the equivalent of the Scottish ones (Saltire for 2nd class and Lion Rampant for 1st class) and the Welsh and Northern Irish ones. I have, with some difficulty, managed to get Welsh and Irish ones for postcards home, and I always buy Scottish ones, but I have never yet managed to buy the English ones.

Any ideas why that should be?

Just looked it up - 70p and 61p, March 25th 2019.

So will probably go up again towards end of March?

Don’t blame you gaunt47 good idea

Esspee
I can’t believe that every letter is checked by hand MamaCaz If so that might explain the price of stamps.

I can't really believe that either, esspee. I'm sure there must be another explanation, but so far I can't think what it must be. Hopefully someone will soon enlighten me

I don’t know the exact price of 1st class stamp but know it’s in the 60p+ range. I bought a load of second class stamps some years ago when there was a steel price rise - I don’t think I’m ever going to run out! . I don’t often use a second class stamp now. The things I’d have used them for such as paying bills, are done electronically now.

And don't forget the price of stamps will be going up in April!
Well, it always does, so I make a note in my diary to stock up in March

Aren’t they about 70p and 62 or somewhere in that region
The hand mark is only put on if a letter misses the machine they ar3 not all hand checked You wouldn’t get your letter for a month I’d that happened
New Zealand don’t get deliveries every day two or three a week I think my daughter in law said when I grumbled about her not getting her birthday card on time although I sent it two weeks before
My Dutch friend also tells me that deliveries are very slow and not very reliable
And a parcel I sent to Zimbabwe six weeks ago still hasn’t arrived so we re pretty lucky really

Roughly, but only because I post short chatty letters frequently and love getting text replies back because I know the people I keep in touch with love getting nice post. Genuinely love getting post even though they rarely write. It has helped me with my writing skills too which had gone downhill a few years ago. It helps with loneliness for sure so is a service I value like the milkman.

I can’t believe that every letter is checked by hand MamaCaz If so that might explain the price of stamps.

No, I don't know how much they are individually. On the rare occasions that I need to buy them, I usually buy a book and yes, I get a shock at the price every time.

Slightly off-topic, but stamp-related: has anyone else noticed that as well as the postmark, many letters with 'real' stamps on them have recently started to arrive with a hand-made pen mark across the stamp?
I can only presume that this human checking and marking is to counter the re-using of any stamps that had 'escaped' the stamp mark as they went through the machinery - or maybe fraudsters have developed a way of removing the machine-made mark but not a pen-made one?

I rarely do any other time but converting the price of stamps (and a bar of chocolate) to old money is terrifying! 1st class is 13 shillings and sixpence or there abouts!!

I don't know either and it seems another way to stop us using the postal service at least for letters. Not profitable enough?.

The penny post of Roland Hill in 1840 was a brilliant idea because it meant that ordinary people could afford to write to each other and by then more people were literate.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48844278

I wouldn't know without looking it up, especially as all the stamps now have 1st Class or 2nd Class on them with no monetary value. One good thing about that is you can use old stamps. I have soaked lots of unfranked stamps off envelopes and saved them. I keep meaning to use them with a bit of glue, but so rarely send anything in the post! I have a load of Christmas 2018 stamps which I'm still using too.

I think 1st class was 65p before the last price rise, as I gave someone a book for their 65th birthday, I like practical presents! Not sure what they cost now, about 68p and 58p?