Royal Mail to hike stamp costs once more in April | UK Information

The Royal Mail will increase the worth of stamps once more subsequent month as the corporate struggles with a decline within the variety of letters being posted.

The worth of a first-class and second class stamp will enhance by 10p to £1.35 and 85p respectively from 2 April.

It comes after Royal Mail raised the price of stamps twice in 2023.

A 12 months in the past, a first-class stamp value 95p earlier than being hiked to £1.10 in April. The worth was elevated once more to £1.25 six months later.

Chief business officer Nick Landon stated: “We at all times contemplate value modifications very fastidiously however we face a scenario the place letter volumes have lowered dramatically over latest years whereas prices have elevated.

“It’s now not sustainable to take care of a community constructed for 20 billion letters after we are actually solely delivering seven billion.”

He added: “Because of letter quantity decline, our posties now must stroll greater than thrice as far to ship the identical variety of letters as earlier than, growing the supply prices per letter.”

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It comes after regulator Ofcom launched a session right into a proposed shake-up of the Royal Mail’s Common Service Obligation, and steered the agency could possibly be allowed to lower its letter deliveries to a few or 5 days per week.

The Communication Employees Union warned that the final result of the evaluation was “predetermined” and that cuts to Royal Mail’s letter supply service might result in tens of 1000’s of job losses.

Ofcom’s session is because of finish in April.

The Royal Mail, which is owned by Worldwide Distributions Companies, recorded a £419m loss in its earlier monetary 12 months.

It was additionally fined £5.6m in 2023 for lacking supply targets.