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The cost of a first class stamp will soon rise to 95p as Royal Mail announces a 10p hike, as well as a 2p increase for second class stamps.
It’s been confirmed that from 4th April 2022, the price of a first class stamp for a standard letter will shoot up from 85p to 95p, whilst second class will go from 66p to 68p. For large letters, the price will increase by 16p to £1.45 for first class and 9p to £1.05 for second class.
A lack of letters being sent and increased running costs are being blamed for the price increases, with Royal Mail saying that around 60% fewer letters are being sent now than in 2005 – at a time when a stamp cost as little as 21p.
In the past 10 years alone, between 2012 and 2022, the price of a first class stamp has gone up 58% from 60p to 95p. Meanwhile, second class stamps have gone up 36% from 50p to 68p.
Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer of Royal Mail, has said:
“We understand that many companies and households are finding it hard in the current economic environment, and we will always keep our prices as affordable as possible.
“Whilst the number of letters our postmen and women deliver has declined from around 20billion a year to around 7billion since 2004/5, the number of addresses they have to deliver to has grown by around 3.5million in the same period.
“We need to carefully balance our pricing against declining letter volumes and increasing costs of delivering to a growing number of addresses six days a week.”
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