Royal Mail Increase Stamp Prices in the UK for 2022
From 4th April 2022, the price of Royal Mail 1st Class stamp will increase by 10p to 95p and the price of a 2nd Class stamp will increase by 2p to 68p.
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% since their peak in 2004/5, and around 20% since the start of the pandemic.
Overall, these changes are broadly in line with inflation and are necessary to ensure the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service remains sustainable. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to 31 million home and business addresses across the UK six days a week at the same price.
“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 7 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.”
“As customer needs change and we see a greater shift from letters to parcels, it is vital that the Universal Service adapts to stay relevant and sustainable. These prices changes are necessary to ensure we can continue to maintain and invest in the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service for future generations.”
Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Mail.
Royal Mail’s stamp prices remain among the best value in Europe compared to other postal operators. Royal Mail research shows that the European average price for 1st Class letters (0-100g) is £1.36.
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Really Royal Mail. The price increase is declining letter usage and inflation. So why are your workers about to strike then? You are about to sack 1000 more employees so you can rehire others at lower wages when I fact you have seen record profits of 330 millions. 1600 employees were let go in 2021 and you replaced them with untrained drivers that used rental vans to do your service. Your shareholders are certainly happy and this is the real reason behind the strike and the increase in postage cost. Utter greed and prices everywhere always increases when the national minimum wage increases. We can see you now in the board meeting “the public are getting more money now the minimum wage increases, so let’s charge ge then more”
I just hope the strike goes ahead and the shares lose you millions and millions.