Royal Mail to increase stamp prices by 10p next month – Martin Lewis issues advice on how to avoid it

. Royal Mail is raising the price of stamps next month with first-class stamps costing £1.25 and second-class stamps will be 86p. Martin is now urging people to ‘stock up now’

He said “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.”

Last year, you could buy a first-class stamp for 95p. But in April 2023, it went up to £1.10 and then another 15p in October.

Previously, industry regulator Ofcom said price increases for second-class stamps would be capped at the rate of inflation until 2029 in order make sending letters more affordable, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Nick Landon from Royal Mail said: “We always consider price changes very carefully but we face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years while costs have increased.”

He added: “It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion. 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.”

But there’s a clever way to dodge the higher prices. MoneySavingExpert (MSE) suggests buying lots of stamps before they get more expensive.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, has advised people to stock up on stamps before the price increase, as they remain valid even after the hike. He 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.”

Ofcom has previously warned Royal Mail that it may have to reduce its letter deliveries to five or three days a week, labelling the UK postal situation as “unsustainable”. to reduce its letter deliveries to five or three days a week, labelling the UK postal situation as “unsustainable”.