Royal Mail making change to first-class stamps ‘from next week’

The Royal Mail will hike the price of first class stamps in DAYS. The price of first-class stamps will rise by 30p to £1.65, the second rise in a year, the delivery giant has confirmed, with the price increase set to come into force from October 7.

It comes after first class stamp prices increased by 10p to £1.35 in April and by 10p to 85p for second class. The company has frozen the cost of second class stamps at 85p until 2029 in a bid to keep the sending of letters affordable.

Royal Mail said the universal service needs urgent reform, adding: “The minimum requirements of the universal service haven’t changed for over 20 years despite major changes to how people communicate. We have no certainty on regulatory reform and the rate of letter decline and ongoing losses means that Royal Mail has had to take the necessary steps within its power to address the very real and urgent financial sustainability challenge the universal service faces right now.

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Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s chief commercial officer, said it always considers price increases “very carefully”. However, he said, as letter volumes have declined by two-thirds since their peak, the cost of delivering each letter has inevitably increased.

He added: “A complex and extensive network is needed to get every letter and parcel across the country for a single price – travelling on trucks, planes, ferries and in some cases drones before it reaches its final destination on foot. We are proud to deliver the universal service, but the financial cost is significant.

“The universal service must adapt to reflect changing customer preferences and increasing costs so that we can protect the one-price-goes anywhere service, now and in the future.” Royal Mail said on Friday that letter volumes had fallen from 20bn in 2004-05 to about 6.7bn in 2023/24, meaning the average household now receives four letters a week compared with 14 a decade ago, while the number of addresses had risen by 4m.