The price of stamps will increase next month, the Royal Mail has confirmed.
From April 3, 2024 the cost of one first class stamp will rise by 15p to £1.10 per stamp. Second class stamps will jump from seven pence to 75p each. Royal Mail said the rise is needed to ensure "one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service" remains stable.
The changes have been decided after "careful consideration" of different factors, including increasing costs, a 25 per cent drop in letter volumes since the pandemic and an "ever-growing" number of addresses. The price increase will come into force one day before the first round of new stamps with King Charles III portrait is released.
"We appreciate that many businesses and households are facing a challenging economic environment and we are committed to keeping our prices affordable," said Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail.
"We have to carefully balance our pricing against a continued decline in letter volumes and the increasing costs of delivering letters six days a week to an ever-growing number of addresses across the country."
Last year, the letter carrier asked the Government to drop their obligated delivery services from six days a week to five for letters. The mail carrier is currently expected to see an dusted operating loss of £350 million to £450 million for the full year, Market Screener reports.
Ofcom research shows that a five day letter service -Monday to Friday - would meet the needs of 97 per cent of consumers. As the demand for letters falls, replaced by parcels, providing a surface that's no longer needed comes at a large cost to Royal Mail, threatening the sustainability of their service.
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