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16 Dec 2025
Earlier this month we invited people to take part in the postal regulator Ofcom’s consultation into views on future approaches to stamp pricing. More than 8,000 people responded, using our template letter. We expect to hear the results of the consultation in the first quarter of 2026.
One supporter from Preston in Lancashire went further and crafted their own letter, which was too good not to share! So with their permission, here’s the letter on the impossibility of a private mail service providing a truly ‘first class’ delivery.
Dear Ofcom,
It’s interesting to note that, according to ONS data, stamp expenditure per UK household has decreased by 50% (not allowing even for inflation or online deliveries) in the 3 years to
2023/24. Whilst the alternatives to posted letters – email, texts, social media etc. – are more popular than ever and perceived as free, surely the stratospheric rise in stamp prices in recent years has accelerated this decline.
I now no longer send anything that is not essential, and have cut back on anything but occasional letters/cards to anyone but my very closest friends/family. As recently as 2023, I posted 20+ Christmas cards a year. Last year I sent three. But I would send more if prices were more reasonable. Furthermore. I now nearly always send letters/packages 2nd class, such is the huge gulf in price that has developed between 1st and 2nd class. Obviously the second class service will now get slower since you removed the universal postal service obligation to deliver such post on a daily basis. Yet even if I were to splash out on 1st class, there this is a huge flaw in the promise of ‘next day delivery’…
With the exception of those outside Post Offices, since it was privatised Royal Mail has cut many postbox collections down to once daily, before 9am (sometimes as early as 7am).
Furthermore, in many places the postie does not deliver to domestic addresses until after lunch. So unless you left the house before breakfast, it would be impossible for a letter posted first class on Monday morning to reach its destination until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. This is something Ofcom must consider next time its reviews Royal Mail’s delivery targets.
This is not the service one expects when 1st class stamp prices have risen 100% in the past four years alone, and from 60p to £1.65 since Royal Mail was privatised in 2013. According
to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, 60p in 2013 is now worth 85p. As regards postal costs in other countries, the chart on page 11 of this 2025 report shows that the average price of a 1st class domestic letter delivery in other European countries is €1.28 (£1.11). With the exception of France, most of the countries with higher prices are Nordic countries, where the population is significantly lower than the UK and cost of living higher. Meanwhile the US Postal Service charges just $1.70 (£1.27) for 1st class international letter deliveries. So it is now cheaper for someone in the USA to send a letter to the UK than it is to send a 1st class letter within the UK!
In conclusion, and as per Ofcom’s consultation, I clearly I do not believe UK citizens have access to an affordable universal postal service. Whilst it may not be within the scope of this consultation, I would also like to propose that due to Royal Mail’s poor performance over the last decade – and the fact it is now a private company owned by an overseas investor – it should be stripped of the ‘Royal’ title. Or bring the company back into public ownership.
Yours etc
