Royal Mail hikes prices of stamps - first and second class hit by major shake up

[POSTMAN]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/15756 ... lass-stamp

ROYAL MAIL is hiking stamp prices for both first and second class options, the company has announced.

The price of a first class stamp is going up by 10p and a second class stamp by 2p with a U-turn on plans which meant Britons had less than a year to use up old stamps. A first class stamp rises to 95p on April 4 while the cost of a second class stamp will increases to 68p.

Royal Mail said that prices have to go up because people are sending fewer letters and inflation is so high.

In a statement, the company said: "Royal Mail has considered these pricing changes very carefully in light of the long term structural decline in letter usage and rising inflation.

"Letter volumes have declined by more than 60 percent since their peak in 2004/5, and around 20 percent since the start of the pandemic."

It also warned that if stamp prices remained the same it would mean the Royal Mail could not continue its universal service, which is the promise that it costs the same to send a letter to any address in the UK six days a week.

Royal Mail's chief commercial officer, Nick Landon, said: "We understand that many companies and households are finding it hard in the current economic environment and we will always keep our prices as affordable as possible.

"Whilst the number of letters our postmen and women deliver has declined from around 20 billion a year to around seven billion since 2004/5, the number of addresses they have to deliver to has grown by around 3.5 million in the same period.

"We need to carefully balance our pricing against declining letter volumes and increasing costs of delivering to a growing number of addresses six days a week."

Royal Mail defended its price hike by saying Britons pay less for their stamps than almost anywhere else in Europe.

It comes after Royal Mail released figures showing in the third quarter of the year leading up to December 5, 2021, the service delivered 93.8 percent of second class mail within three working days.

The company delivered 76.8 percent of first class mail the next working day with 92.5 percent delivered within two days.

Royal Mail said that while the vast majority of post was delivered safely and on time, the pandemic, self-isolation and staff absence had impacted its service levels.

At the peak of the Omicron wave, absence levels were double what Royal Mail would expect to see at that time of the year pre-pandemic with about 15,000 people off sick or self isolating, according to the company.

[hans solo]

should be done for corporate fraud with the massive failures of 1st class letters every day

[hellpop]

So customers paying an extra 10p a letter to have it sat in frame for days on end due to inadequate staffing? Scandalous.

[CharlesG]

"Letter volumes have declined by more than 60 percent since their peak in 2004/5, and around 20 percent since the start of the pandemic."

So… in 2004/5 there was 60% more letters?
Has to be stamped letters only surely as im sure majority of posties were home by 12o’clock everyday in 2004 (after doing half a duty on OT as well)

[Mr Rush]

"Letter volumes have declined by more than 60 percent since their peak in 2004/5, and around 20 percent since the start of the pandemic."

So… in 2004/5 there was 60% more letters?

No it declined 60% since 2004/5 - so we're at 40% of what it was then. It's more like 150% more letters.

[TopperGas]

Can anybody understand how the RM have the nerve to increase prices by over 10% given the shocking service they've supplied, in certain areas of the country in recent months? I can see the RM are trying to kill off letters by stealth for the general public leaving only large businesses able to afford to send our letters. J

[Chelseablue]

Rem the days we were out on the gates when the service was attacked etc . Lets just shake our heads and let it decline further.

[derekm]

Stamped letters will decline even more now and probably killed off people sending cards on special occasions

[wallan]

Time for one class of Letter , Next Day Delivery in the M C Collection / Delivery Area , Day After The Rest

[tractorboy2]

Stamped letters will decline even more now and probably killed off people sending cards on special occasions

As I have said on countless occasions most people DO NOT pay the correct rate on cards in the first place. Another reason the cost has increased by so much , though they won't say so.

[tractorboy2]

Time for one class of Letter , Next Day Delivery in the M C Collection / Delivery Area , Day After The Rest

Agree.

[SpacePhoenix]

Time for one class of Letter , Next Day Delivery in the M C Collection / Delivery Area , Day After The Rest

All the mail will still need to be processed in the evenings to extract the mail for the area covered by the MC. All (intra) mail to the DO would be manual as there wouldn't be the workload to justify running the machines.

There was a time when intra mail was sorted and dispatched separately, before the mail from out of the area arrived. Anyone whose worked for RM long enough will remember the pink york header cars, bag labels and tray labels

[wallan]

Time for one class of Letter , Next Day Delivery in the M C Collection / Delivery Area , Day After The Rest

All the mail will still need to be processed in the evenings to extract the mail for the area covered by the MC. All (intra) mail to the DO would be manual as there wouldn't be the workload to justify running the machines.

There was a time when intra mail was sorted and dispatched separately, before the mail from out of the area arrived. Anyone whose worked for RM long enough will remember the pink york header cars, bag labels and tray labels

& Neighboring in by Mdt (ish )