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Martin Lewis has urged people to “bulk buy” a £1.25 household staple ahead of April. The ITV star spoke out on Money Saving Expert, his financial website and consumer champion blog, where he warned over stamp price hikes.
Mr Lewis said: “For years, every time stamps go up in price I’ve suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance, as provided the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it’s still valid after the hike.”
The BBC Sounds podcast host and ITV regular then went on and added: “This has been an effective tactic, as a first-class letter stamp is now £1.25, soon to be rising to £1.35 – in 2012 it was just 60p. So you may as well stock up now.”
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Royal Mail said: “We would always recommend that customers buy their stamps from reputable high street outlets and, where possible, to get a receipt. Stamps are also available directly from the Royal Mail online shop.”
It’s the third time the price of standard-letter size first-class stamps has been hiked within a year. Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: “We face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years, while costs have increased.
“It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion.” Mr Landon added: “As a result of letter volume decline, our posties now have to walk more than three times as far to deliver the same number of letters as before, increasing the delivery costs per letter.”
The stamp hikes come at an already difficult time for UK households, who are battling rising bills from everything from broadband and mobile phones to Netflix, Disney Plus, petrol, food and many more.
