Households urged to act now as stamps see eighth price rise in 6 years
Households have been urged to stock up on stamps ahead of Royal Mail’s big price increase from next month.
The postal service said that from April 7 the price of a second-class stamp will increase by 4p to 91p, while the price of a first-class stamp will increase by 10p to £1.80.
This latest increase means the price of a first-class stamp has more than doubled in the last six years, rising 137 percent in eight separate increases. Second-class stamps saw six price increases over the same period.
Commenting on the increase, Martin Lewis advised people who need stamps to stock up now to avoid having to pay more later.
The monetary expert said: “For years, whenever the price of stamps increased, I advised people to stock up and buy in bulk in advance, because the fact that there is no price on the stamp and instead just says postage class remains valid after the increase.
“This has been an effective tactic because a first class letter stamp is currently £1.70, soon to rise to £1.80 – it was just 60p in 2012. So if you’re going to need the stamp you’d better stock up now.”
The latest price rises coincide with growing concerns about Royal Mail’s performance after the postal service admitted last month that it had once again failed to meet delivery targets.
Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “It’s been more than half a decade since the company met its delivery targets and people still face a gamble, with many unsure whether their important documents or letters, such as those for medical appointments, will arrive on time.
“Things risk getting worse when delivery day cuts and lowered performance targets are fully implemented.
“In this environment, it is not possible for Ofcom to survive these increases any longer.
“Higher prices must come with higher standards; increases should be based on Royal Mail’s performance on the doorstep.”
Royal Mail has been summoned to face a committee of MPs who have raised concerns about “chaos” in the postal service since Christmas and suggested some letters were being delivered “in bulk”.
Royal Mail said the stamp increases reflect the ongoing rise in the cost of delivery as letter volumes fall and the number of addresses increases.
Richard Travers, Royal Mail’s general manager of letters, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the increasing cost of delivering mail.
“On average, adults in the UK now spend just £6.50 a year on stamps, and 70% fewer letters are sent than 20 years ago.
“Meanwhile, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased from four million to 32 million across the UK.”
Royal Mail’s annual target to deliver first class mail on time was last achieved in 2019/20.
The firm, whose owner International Distribution Services (IDS) was bought by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group for £3.6bn last June, repeated its call to “progress urgently” with reforms to the service.
Ofcom last year gave Royal Mail permission to cancel second-class letter deliveries on Saturdays and change the service to two weekdays.
Royal Mail has since piloted the changes across 35 delivery offices.
However, it held intense talks with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) after failing to reach agreement on how universal service changes would be implemented across the 1,200-person network.
The talks, which lasted a month, ended on March 2 without an agreement and were extended for two weeks for the parties to reach an agreement.
Mr Travers said: “To protect the service for the future, we urgently need to move forward by introducing universal service reform to support a more modern, more reliable and more sustainable service for our customers.”
Royal Mail argued that despite the price increases, the cost of UK stamps was still lower than the European average (£1.56 for a second class stamp and £1.93 for a first class).
