Related Articles
Royal Mail has reintroduced an additional charge for some deliveries this Christmas.
The surcharge affects business account holders, who will now face an extra 5p on letters and 10p on parcels. This price hike is effective from today and is scheduled to last until January 10, 2025, spanning the peak period for festive post.
Although the surcharge currently targets business customers, there’s concern that consumers might bear the brunt if companies decide to pass on these extra costs, reports the Mirror.
READ MORE: More than 100 Post Office branches face closure across the UK
On its website, Royal Mail explains: “The Peak Surcharge is effective across our busiest time of year as we scale-up our network at additional cost. The Peak Surcharge is applied on the product price after any discounts or commissions or other surcharges, and before VAT.”
A spokesperson for Royal Mail commented: “The peak surcharge only applies to business customers for the Christmas period and was introduced last year. It applies an additional charge to certain business parcel products for a limited period to reflect the increased demand and capacity needed to handle increased volumes.”
They added: “Other parcel carriers apply a similar surcharge. Christmas is our busiest time of the year and we invest in around 16,000 additional staff, more vehicles and temporary sites to increase our capacity to handle double the normal volumes of parcels.”
Royal Mail has introduced a 5p peak surcharge for its Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 large letters, as well as Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 letterboxable products used by business account holders. Furthermore, a 10p peak surcharge is now in effect for Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 parcels, including all Royal Mail Tracked services, Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am, 1pm, and Sunday, plus Special Delivery Guaranteed Returns.
It comes after Royal Mail hiked stamp prices last month. On October 7, the cost of a standard first-class stamp went up from £1.35 to £1.65 – a 22 per cent increase. The price of a large first-class stamp increased by 24 per cent, from £2.10 to £2.60.
Stamps are becoming more expensive as fewer letters are sent, says Royal Mail. The trend has seen a steady rise over recent years.
A standard first-class stamp cost £1.10 in October 2023 before increasing to £1.25, then reaching £1.35 in April 2024.
There was no change, however, to second-class stamps, which remain at 85p for a standard size.
It comes after Royal Mail replaced traditional stamps with ones that feature barcodes. The only stamps you can continue to use are “special stamps” issued to commemorate anniversaries and events, as well as Christmas stamps. If you still have some old stamps, you can exchange them through the Royal Mail “Swap Out” scheme.
