<\/p>\n
\n The increase, announced last month, comes into force today and has seen a 4p price increase in second-class stamps to 91p, as well as a 10p increase to second-class stamps.\n<\/p>\n
\n It means the cost of a first-class stamp has now more than doubled \u2013 up 137% \u2013 in the past six years after eight rises, while the cost of a second-class stamp has been hiked six times.\n<\/p>\n
\n The latest rises come after Royal Mail revealed in February that it had missed delivery targets once again in the most recent quarter.\n<\/p>\n
\n Royal Mail said the stamp rises reflected the continued increase in the cost of delivery as letter volumes fell and the number of addresses increased.\n<\/p>\n
\n Richard Travers, managing director of letters at Royal Mail, said: \u201cWe always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOn average, UK adults now spend just \u00a36.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Royal Mail argued that despite the price rises, UK stamps still cost less than the European average of \u00a31.56 for a second-class stamp and \u00a31.93 for first class.\n<\/p>\n
\n Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said: \u201cMore than half-a-decade has gone by since the company met its delivery targets and people still face a gamble, with many uncertain if their important documents or letters like medical appointments will arrive on time.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThings only risk getting worse when cuts to delivery days and reduced performance targets come into full effect.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAgainst this backdrop, Ofcom simply cannot wave through these increases any longer.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHigher prices must come with higher standards \u2013 increases should be tied to Royal Mail\u2019s performance on the doorstep.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The last time Royal Mail met its annual target for delivering first-class post on time was in 2019-20.\n<\/p>\n
\n The firm \u2013 whose owner International Distribution Services (IDS) was bought last June for \u00a33.6 billion by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky\u2019s EP Group \u2013 repeated its call to \u201curgently move forward\u201d with reforms to the service.\n<\/p>\n
#Stamp #prices #hit #Royal #Mail #increases #prices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The increase, announced last month, comes into force today and has seen a 4p price increase in second-class stamps to 91p, as well as a 10p increase to second-class stamps.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock789.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}