As usual at this time of the year Royal Mail have announced that some prices will rise from 25 March and 2 April 2024.
No details have been announced yet for uses of social mail or small businesses: we can expect the announcement for these on 1 March.
Details for franking machines (meters) have been announced including a 1st class rate of £1.17 and 2nd class of 79p.
As we know most business and meter rates are discounted from the rates for stamps, so we can expect a new first class rate probably close to £1.30 and the second class rate would probably be 80p or more.
Similarly changes new rates apply to Special Delivery and Signed For basic letters.
Further speculation at this stage is pointless, but I hope to have details to publish here by 2nd March. The 25 March changes will probably only affect business users.
Royal Mail have now issued this press release 1 March 2024
From 2 April 2024, the price of First Class stamps will increase by 10p to £1.35 and the price of Second
Class stamps will increase by 10p to 85p.
Royal Mail has sought to keep price increases as low as possible in the face of increasing cost pressures
and wage increases, declining letter volumes and lack of reform of the Universal Service Obligation (USO).
Letter volumes have fallen from 20 billion in 2004/5 to seven billion a year in 2022/3, while the number of addresses has risen by four million in the same period. The average adult spends less than £7 a year on stamped letters and people now receive on average just two letters per week.
The USO – which requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to all 32 million UK addresses six days a week – is in need of urgent reform. Delivering an ever-decreasing number of letters to an ever-growing number of
households six days a week is increasingly expensive and unsustainable. Postal regulator Ofcom has
recently opened a call for inputs to look at options for reform of the USO given the dramatic reduction in
letter volumes in recent years.
|
|
1st |
2nd |
||
|
Letter |
1.35 |
1.25 |
0.85 |
0.75 |
|
Large Letter – 100g |
2.10 |
1.95 |
1.55 |
1.55 |
|
- 250g |
2.90 |
2.70 |
2.10 |
2.40 |
|
- 500g |
3.50 |
3.30 |
2.50 |
2.70 |
|
- 750g |
3.50 |
3.30 |
2.70 |
2.70 |
|
Small Parcel 2kg |
4.59 |
4.19 |
3.69 |
3.49 |
|
Medium Parcel 2kg |
6.69 |
6.29 |
5.89 |
5.49 |
|
- 10kg |
8.39 |
7.99 |
7.39 |
6.99 |
|
- 20kg |
12.49 |
11.99 |
10.99 |
10.49 |
(Correction: the original version of this blog showed the April 2023 figures in the table as a 12 month comparison. In fact a better comparison is with the current (October 2023) rates which show that some of the 2nd class rates have reverted to lower levels. Correction made 17.40 1 March)
Special Delivery rates, which for 1pm were unchanged last year, are also increased. The 100g rate rises by 60p from £7.35 to £7.95, the 500g rate by 80p to £8.95. There are much higher increases if compensation greater than £750 is required. The basic £1,000/100g rate rises by 33% from £8.25 to £10.95 and that for £2,500 rises by 73% from £10.35 to £17.95.
Two new services have been introduced for Large Letters and Parcels, which include compensation up to £150.
UK Tracked and UK Tracked and Signed offer 24 hour and 48 hour services:
These products do not replace Signed For. Rates for Signed For are increased in line with the rises in basic letter rates. Both 1st and 2nd letter increase by 30p to £3.05 and £2.55 respectively. Large Letter rates and parcels increase by varying amounts.
Cost of my Post Office Box increases by 7% from £330 to £353.40 pa. Redirection costs are up 10%.
INTERNATIONAL CHANGES
From last spring there has been only one price for letters worldwide. This now increases from £2.20 to £2.50 and a new definitive stamp will be issued at this rate in another insipid colour, the old Gooseberry Green.
This will not be available until 4 April which will be the first day of issue. Post Offices have been instructed to use make-up values on 2nd & 3rd April: £2 and 50p seems the obvious way.
 |
| 2024 tariff airmail stamp, £2.50 Gooseberry Green. |
The
100g rates for Large Letters in Europe and Rest of the World remain
unchanged at £3.25 and £4.20 respectively, but rates for over 100g
increase by around 10%.
Lowest
rates for Europe Small Parcels will also increase by around 10%.
Increases for Worldwide
Parcels are also pegged at around 10%.
Surface rate outside Europe, known as International Economy will rise from £2 to £2.20 so it makes sense to keep the £2.20 stamp available for those few people who use this service (often finding that the item has been sent by air anyway!).
If I've missed anything, my apologies. I will be pleased to be told of any errors and will correct them as soon as possible.