First Class Stamps To Rise Again, 9p From 76p To 85p

[Janus]

The rise will happen on 1st January. They only went up in March, so that is two increases in less than 12 months..

I calculate this latest rise to be an increase of over 11.5%. No relevance to the rate of inflation of course.
 

[iansheff]

 

2 hours ago, Janus said:

The rise will happen on 1st January. They only went up in March, so that is two increases in less than 12 months..

I calculate this latest rise to be an increase of over 11.5%. No relevance to the rate of inflation of course.
 

Marvellous how the big companies believe it is alright for them to ignore the rate of inflation and put prices up way beyond the current rate, I got my BG Homecare renewal and that has increased by 14%. 

[Jim Hardie]

And it’s because letter volumes have fallen 28% in six months. A 9p increase is bound to cure that.

[jane2008]

6 hours ago, Janus said:

The rise will happen on 1st January. They only went up in March, so that is two increases in less than 12 months..

I calculate this latest rise to be an increase of over 11.5%. No relevance to the rate of inflation of course.
 

Thanks Janus.  I post letters every once in a while so I'll stock up.

[bassett one]

they used to do 3 deliverys a day,in my lifetime twice a day,i often smile when i see tv programes with them having breakie and the post drops through the box,ours is lunchtime or later once per day,some days they cannot deliver due to no staff and not allowed to take on staff,the other day i thought my parcels are taking ages and six arrived together and postie said sorry no staff in s8 area,so couldnt del 2 days last week,but they need to up there game if prices continue to go up.

[Bargepole23]

12 hours ago, Jim Hardie said:

And it’s because letter volumes have fallen 28% in six months. A 9p increase is bound to cure that.

Is the cost of a stamp much of a consideration when sending a letter? If I want to send a letter, or more likely a card, 9p will be of no consequence for the number I send per year. I would guess most people are the same.

 

Most businesses who send any volume of post aren't paying for and sticking 1st class stamps on.

[Janus]

The letter side of the buisness is certainly declining. As the parcel side is increasing, it would not surprise me if they now perceive letters as a pain. I feel the announced price hike    is intentionally high to deter customers.

Parcel delivery now seems to be their focus. After all these years they are still not fully geared up for processing high volumes.

"Revenue from letters dropped by 20.5%, parcel rose by 33.2%.

At present only a third of parcels dealt with by Royal Mail are processed through a parcel sorting machine, with the majority sorted by hand".
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54998908
 

[Jeffrey Shaw]

A big problem is the Universal Service obligation to deliver post to everywhere in the UK every day (NSu) and for a single national price. Of course it ought to be cheaper to post a Sheffield-to-Sheffield letter than a Sheffield-Cornwalll or a Sheffield-to-Shetland one. But currently the former local item heavily subsidises the latter.

[Janus]

I am guessing that they cannot wriggle out of  that obligation.

 

However,  I don't know if they have carte  blanche or not to set any of their price  increases? 

[Becky B]

Try taking it yourself for 85p and see how far you get...