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Martin Lewis, the renowned savings expert, has shared a crucial tip that could save you a significant amount of money each Christmas. However, he said you have just a fortnight to act.
Royal Mail has announced an increase in the cost of standard letters by 30p, from £1.35 to £1.65 – marking the second price hike within a year and a 22% increase overall. First-class stamps for large letters will also see a rise from £2.10 to £2.60 – a 24% increase.
However, Martin suggests a way to somewhat counteract this hike by stocking up on stamps now, just ahead of the busiest posting period of the year – Christmas. On the BBC podcast, Martin stated: “A first class letter stamp is due to rise [in price] again by 30p to £1.65 on the 7 October. So it’s currently £1.35 at the start of the year it was £1.25. Second class are not going up. I recommend to anyone who’s going to need stamps – if you haven’t got them now, you should be stocking up.”
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One grateful listener responded: “Thanks for the heads up as someone who still sends 40 plus cards every Christmas.”
Another listener mentioned having old first class stamps without the modern barcode and being unable to exchange them.
To this, Martin replied that a swap can indeed occur between old and new stamps, saving collectors money. He advised: “You can pick up or print out a swap form from the Royal Mail website” or alternatively collect one from the Post Office.
“Then you can send in your stamps if it’s under £200 it’s the free post swap out but if the stamps are worth more than £200 send to the Royal Mail swap out.”
All you need to do is send off your old, unbarcoded stamps and they will return the same stamps with barcodes.
He also mentioned that it’s worth noting that if you have old Christmas first class unbarcoded stamps – these can still be utilised.
This follows Royal Mail’s announcement that it will hike the price of stamps again next month.
The delivery giant announced that the price of first-class stamps will surge by 30p to £1.65, marking the second increase in a year.
Royal Mail confirmed that the price hike will take effect from October 7.
First class stamp prices rose by 10p to £1.35 in April and by 10p to 85p for second class.
The firm has assured that second class stamps will remain at 85p, as these are currently capped until 2029 in an effort to keep letter sending affordable.
