Are postage stamps and parcels too expensive in the UK?

Royal Mail is a household name, and its posties, red vans and logos can be found all across the nation almost every single day – but they’re enduring a torrid time as costs rise and performance falls. Its parent company have just been sold to a new billionaire owner, and communications regulator Ofcom are thinking of changes “to make sure it is sustainable”.

Have your say! Are postage stamps and parcel delivery prices too high? Would you mind if there were fewer delivery days? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.

The sale of Royal Mail’s parent company to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has put the service back into the spotlight. The company has previously lobbied for service changes which it says will help it to survive, including cutting back on the number of delivery days for letters, which would allow it to cut back on staff and costs.

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However, the new owners have committed to the “Universal Service Obligation” of one-price-goes-anywhere letters, and deliveries 6 days a week. It will be the first time in its over 500 year history that Royal Mail will be controlled by an overseas owner.

The company is struggling to keep up with delivery targets set by Ofcom. Royal Mail is supposed to deliver 93% of all first class mail within a day of collection – but it was fined over £10 million pounds recently as more than a quarter of its first class letters were delivered late.

They were fined for the same thing in the previous year of operations, again failing to deliver more than a quarter on time. An Ofcom statement said: “With millions of letters arriving late, far too many people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.

“Royal Mail’s poor service is now eroding public trust in one of the UK’s oldest institutions. This is the second time we’ve fined the company since the pandemic.”

Costs for the public have also shocked some people, according to the Mirror. TikTok user Jade Doutch was left flabbergasted after being forced to fork out for a book of four first class stamps – “Since when is a book of four stamps £6.60?”

A single first class stamp now costs £1.65, and the last time it was under £1 was in 2022. The rise in costs has been blamed for the decline in sales of Christmas cards – to post a bulk box of 100 would cost you £165.

Have your say! Are postage stamps and parcel delivery prices too high? Would you mind if there were fewer delivery days? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.