Yeah, this is the silly American again. Can someone help me understand your postage stamps? I can figure out (I think!) that the “P” stands for pence, but what is the “D” on stamps? And what do “1st” and “2nd” mean?
My daughter and I have just gotten back into stamp collecting, and I like to put mine in monetary order.
Thanks for humoring me!
Hiya Noras Mom
We have 1st class and 2nd class stamps here. 1st class cost 85p (85 pence or .85 of £1) and 2nd class cost 66p. 1st class are delivered quicker, usually 1 working day. 2nd class is delivered 2-3 working days.
Hope that helps, if not just ask.
Sue
x
Are you looking at some very old stamps? If so, the D refers to pennies, pre decimalisation, before Feb 1971 . The days when there were 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound. Division into 1st and 2nd class postage was introduced in 1968.
although i have had 2nd class arrive quicker then first lol. its a rip off. I only send 2nd now and save myself some money. lol. x
LSD = Pounds Shillings and Pence, were pre decimalisation about 1970 would have to check 
First class stamps are supposed to be delivered quicker (next day) than second class, these days you’re more likely to get the same delivery time if you use a postcode (zip code)
Happy collecting
Jan x
Oops sorry Ziola I didn’t read your post
Jan x
Thank you all! That’s fascinating and pretty much what I was thinking, but I wanted to verify it with the experts!
Now I have to ask – Are postal codes new to you? I think they’ve been mandatory here for 45-50 years now, but then we’re also spread out a bit more and have a lot of duplicate place names.
They’ve been used since the sixties although not mandatory most people do use them. When you say mandatory do you mean post won’t be delivered without one?
Jan x
Post codes were actually introduced in London in the 1850’s and then the rest of thr country from 1959. The Royal Mail don’t force senders to put a Post code on letters etc and they will be able to find which house to pop the letter into even with no postcode, but it may delay the delivery time. Something that surprised me recently was when I posted a parcel to a guy in the Republic Ireland (not part of the UK)… He didn’t know his own postcode and said they didn’t use them much.
Yeah, pretty much. Maybe once in a blue moon you’ll find a postmaster who’ll go the extra mile to try to deliver it, but that would generally be to someone in your own town. Usually they get returned to the sender stamped something like “incomplete address”.
For years, we only had a 5-digit number that identified the post office that delivers our mail, then a few years back they decided to add another 4 digits (which is still, thankfully, optional) that identifies your specific house. Our zip codes are more important than the name of the town. You can actually mail something to 123 John Doe Lane 27435, and it’ll get there, but if you address it as 123 John Doe Lane, London, Ohio, it’ll come right back to you as undeliverable.
Ireland have very, very close knit communities,
My husband once went to visit a friend who had moved there.
He was wandering around with no idea.
Then he thought he’d go for a pint (his usual remedy) The landlord asked him where he was from and he told him that he was looking for Kerry. The landlord told him that Kerry’s dad was due in for his afternoon pint.
Then my hubby’s car conked out and the landlord towed him to the nearest mechanic.
So now you can see why they don’t need a postcode!