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The price of a first class stamp is going up by 10p and a second class stamp by 2p with a U-turn on plans which meant Britons had less than a year to use up old stamps. A first class stamp rises to 95p on April 4 while the cost of a second class stamp will increases to 68p.
Royal Mail said that prices have to go up because people are sending fewer letters and inflation is so high.
In a statement, the company said: “Royal Mail has considered these pricing changes very carefully in light of the long term structural decline in letter usage and rising inflation.
“Letter volumes have declined by more than 60 percent since their peak in 2004/5, and around 20 percent since the start of the pandemic.”
It also warned that if stamp prices remained the same it would mean the Royal Mail could not continue its universal service, which is the promise that it costs the same to send a letter to any address in the UK six days a week.
Royal Mail’s chief commercial officer, Nick Landon, 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 20 billion a year to around seven billion since 2004/5, the number of addresses they have to deliver to has grown by around 3.5 million 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.”
Royal Mail defended its price hike by saying Britons pay less for their stamps than almost anywhere else in Europe.
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It comes after Royal Mail released figures showing in the third quarter of the year leading up to December 5, 2021, the service delivered 93.8 percent of second class mail within three working days.
The company delivered 76.8 percent of first class mail the next working day with 92.5 percent delivered within two days.
Royal Mail said that while the vast majority of post was delivered safely and on time, the pandemic, self-isolation and staff absence had impacted its service levels.
At the peak of the Omicron wave, absence levels were double what Royal Mail would expect to see at that time of the year pre-pandemic with about 15,000 people off sick or self isolating, according to the company.
Royal Mail said it is working hard to improve service levels, having spent over £340 million on overtime, additional temporary staff and sick pay.
It added that in January, the company saw “steady improvements” in first class performance, reaching 85.6 percent by the last week of the month – the highest level since July.
Ricky McAulay, Operations Development Director at Royal Mail, said: “It has been a challenging period and I would like to apologise to any of our customers who have experienced delays in their local areas recently.
“I’m pleased to say the situation is improving. I would like to thank our customers for their patience and of course our postmen and women for their continued hard work and dedication.”
