People react to cost of Royal Mail stamps as Christmas card sales drop

Disgruntled Brits have attributed the continuing decline in Christmas card sales to the “shocking” cost of stamps in 2024.

Earlier this week, it was reported sales in boxed cards is down 23%, while individual cards dropped by 15% in last year’s figures. A survey conducted by Moneypenny found 49% of businesses aren’t bothering to send cards to their clients and suppliers this year.

TikTok user Jade Doutch was left flabbergasted after being forced to fork out for a book of four first class. “Since when is a book of four stamps £6.60?” she fumed in a video. “I just had such a shock – I thought they were about 25p each!”

Commenting on the clip, another person was equally as stunned. “I couldn’t believe it, I shouted, ‘£1.65’ in shock,” they said. “That’s the last stamp I buy.” A second agreed: “I bought a book of four a few months ago, I nearly had a heart attack at the price.”

A third admitted: “I work in a Tesco Express and I actually warn people how much they are before scanning them. It’s unbelievable.” While a generous fourth shared their alternative: “I decided a couple of years ago to stop sending cards because of the cost of stamps. Decided to send money instead to Crisis at Christmas.”

Elsewhere, someone else said: “Saw a post showing if you post 100 cards it’s cheaper to fly to Spain, post from there and fly back.” Indeed, according to a shocking recent analysis conducted by The Telegraph and Skyscanner identified six overseas destinations where posting 100 cards would be more economical than in the UK even when factoring in the cost of a return flight.

The expense of sending 100 first-class Christmas cards domestically now stands at £165. However, in Albania, an international stamp costs just 100 Lek (85p), meaning it would cost only £85 to send the same number of cards, which could take up to five business days to reach the UK.

According to comparison site Skyscanner, holidaymakers can secure flights from Luton to Tirana for as little as £27 in December. This implies that a trip to the Albanian capital to post 100 Christmas cards would total just £112 a saving of £50 compared to using a British postbox.

Another TikTok user, meanwhile, says she has a money-saving tip should you do buy stamps this Christmas. Benella Home Organisation founder Jo Jacob said: “I just want to make sure you’re aware of this trick to save money if you happen to be posting Christmas cards this year.”

She advised: “Make sure you don’t get the barcoded [stamps] ones – don’t get the first or second class normal ones. Get proper Christmas stamps, because when the prices of stamps go up, they don’t change – they are still valid. So if you have Christmas stamps from five years ago and you bought them at whatever [price] they were, they’re still valid now. So maybe buy more than you’ll need as you can use them next year.”

A Royal Mail spokesman previously told the Express: “Our stamp prices of 85p for second class and £1.65 for first class remain well below the European average of £1.33 and £1.73 respectively.

“We always consider the price of stamps very carefully in the face of declining letter volumes and the increasing costs associated with maintaining the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service to all 32 million UK addresses.”