Once again Royal Mail chose to announce new postage rates while we were away, so by now most of the headline news is well known.
Royal Mail Press Release extract 6 September 2024
From 7 October 2024, the price of First Class stamps will increase to £1.65 and the price of Second Class stamps will remain unchanged at 85p.
Royal Mail has sought to keep price increases as low as possible in the face of declining letter volumes, inflationary pressures and the costs associated with maintaining the Universal Service.
The new price of First and Second Class stamps remain below European average prices of £1.73 for First Class and £1.33 for Second Class.
Letter volumes have fallen from 20 billion in 2004/5 to around 6.7 billion a year in 2023/4. As a result, the average household now receives just four letters per week, compared to 14 per week in 2004/5. The number of addresses Royal Mail must deliver to has risen by four million in the same period meaning the cost of each delivery continues to rise.
At the same time the opportunity has been taken to increase the basic airmail rate, which is unaffected by the above factors.
The new rate chart can be downloaded here. New prices in bold, unchanged rates in italics. The 1st class £3.50 rate now covers Large Letters over 100g to 750g.
|
|
1st |
2nd |
||
|
Letter |
1.65 |
1.35 |
0.85 |
0.85 |
|
Large Letter – 100g |
2.60 |
2.10 |
1.55 |
1.55 |
|
- 250g |
3.50 |
2.90 |
2.10 |
2.10 |
|
- 500g |
3.50 |
3.50 |
2.50 |
2.50 |
|
- 750g |
3.50 |
3.50 |
2.70 |
2.70 |
|
Small Parcel 2kg |
4.79 |
4.59 |
3.75 |
3.69 |
|
Medium Parcel 2kg |
6.99 |
6.69 |
6.15 |
5.89 |
|
- 10kg |
8.69 |
8.39 |
7.65 |
7.39 |
|
- 20kg |
13.19 |
12.49 |
11.55 |
10.99 |
Special Delivery rates are also increased. The 100g rate rises by 40p from £7.95 to £8.35, the 500g rate by 40p to £9.35.
UK Tracked rates see minor increases. The basic 1st class Large Letter rate is raised by 10p to £3.60, the Small Parcel rate by 20p to £4.99. The 2nd class rates by 10p to £2.80, the Small Parcel by 6p to £3.95.
UK Signed rates rise broadly in line with the basic letter rates.
International rates. The basic letter rates are increased, but not the Large Letter and Parcel rates. The airmail rate is increased from £2.50 to £2.80, and the surface rate from £2.20 to £2.60. Premium services - International Tracked, Signed, and Tracked & Signed all see changes.
Unlike last April, when the new airmail stamp was issued after the rate increased, the new £2.80 stamp will be issued on 1 October. However, there may be problems obtaining it in Post Offices until the day of the increase (7 October).
Royal Mail's advice to dealers was "The new £2.80 rate will be live and available in Post Offices from Monday 7th October, the date that the new Tariff comes into force", so read what you will into that.
UPDATE: I confirmed in Dereham Crown Office this morning that the £2.80 was available to sell; the Horizon system has that and the presentation pack already available.
As usual the 39 x 30 mm self-adhesive stamps are printed by Cartor Security Printers in sheets of 25, and a presentation pack has been produced.
 |
| £2.80 slate-blue King Charles III definitive stamp issued for airmail letters and cards worldwide 1 October 2024 |
UPDATE: An interesting point has been raised in the Comments, that the new 1st class rate is higher than the 2nd class Large Letter rate of £1.55 as this is unchanged. This means that a 1st class commemorative or current definitive can be used to send a Large Letter (up to 100g) at 2nd class.
I feel for Royal Mail and understand that their address base has expanded whilst people aren't using letters as much. You wonder how many people will be put off further by this second price hike to First Class this year. What concerns me is the International rate rise - £2.80 compares unfavourably with many of the places I have visited in the past year for sending postcards, for example. Would anyone in Royal Mail consider a reduced rate for international postcards - say £2 or £2.10? (It would give them a chance to have a further stamp denomination in stamp sets rather than pretending that stamps are used as make-up values too). Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI've asked this elsewhere but haven't gotten any answers...
ReplyDeleteWe are now in the unusual situation where price-wise, 1st class letter > 2nd class large letter.
Previously I could send a 100g 2nd class large letter for £1.55 by using a 1st class stamp + 20p.
Does this mean, come 7th Oct, if I put a basic £1.65 1st class stamp on my large letter that it will be delivered without surcharge within 2-3 days? I am worried that it will look like I am trying to send it 1st class, but I should pay for a 1st class large letter stamp.
That's a very interesting question.
DeleteYes, I suppose if you put a 1st class stamp (that probably cost very much less than it does now!) it would cover the cost of a 2nd class Large at £1.55.
Well worth an experiment I think!
Similarly you could use 2 x 1st (£3.30) for 2nd Large signed for (£3.25). That would be even more interesting having to be presented at the PO counter.
I mentioned this at the Crown Post Office this morning and they confirmed hat yes, a 1st class stamp could pay the rate for a Large Letter going 2nd class. Whether Royal Mail Revenue Protection had to think twice about it was another matter!
DeleteRevenue Protection should treat all unpaid and underpaid mail as Second Class. But Revenue Protection make mistakes.
DeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong, but does this make (if it hasn't already) British airmail prices the most expensive in the world?
ReplyDeleteNo, not by a long way if you take the weight into account.
DeleteFor example a letter from Canada weighing 50-100g costs C$6.88 (£3.82) although a 20g letter is only £1.62. In Eire a 100g packet costs €4 or £3.33.
Most countries' minimum rates are cheaper but given that it costs much the same to handle (in the sending country) a postcard/20g letter as it does a 100g letter those rates are arificially low with lighter items being subsidised by heavier.
Whether this balances out and encourages more people to send cards and simple letters is another matter.
Interesting, thanks! I'm curious to see if there's already existing data on the last point (especially in other countries if they ever drop the minimum prices).
DeleteRM's increasing prices seems to only contribute to the death spiral in volumes, though granted that it's multifaceted.
If letter volumes have fallen by ⅔, shouldn't letters be arriving more quickly instead of more slowly?
ReplyDeleteI suspect you know the answer to this if you have been following discussions between Post Office management and the parliamentary committee. Whatever the management say, posties on the ground know that they have to prioritise the tracked packets at the risk of delaying basic letter post.
DeletePostal services Act section 83 (1)
DeleteI'll do the work for everybody else, but next time I won't publish that sort of post!
Delete"Section 83(1) of the Postal Services Act 2000 states that a postal operator commits an offense if they:
Intentionally delay or open a postal packet while it's being transmitted by post
Intentionally open a mail-bag
This is without reasonable excuse and contrary to their duty
And therefore totally irrelevant. It applies to postal workers rather than the postal operator (ie Royal Mail), and is entirely WITH reasonable cause and in line with their duty, ie to deliver Tracked24 within 24 hours and Tracked48 within 48 hours.
Royal Mail directors have denied it, but the workers at the coalface know what they have been told to deliver. There is also the situation that if the parcels build up at the delivery office there is no room to move to sort letters and a safety issue ensues.
Is it time for Royal Mail to have a serious think about whether it’s worthwhile maintaining first and second class mail?
ReplyDeleteI might be getting old but I remember when Royal Mail still issued stamps to cover the small difference in the rates. Now it hardly seems worthwhile posting anything by first class.
In my experience, in posting eBay and other items where I often receive a response (feedback, thank you etc), I find that most items sent by second class post arrive the next day, or at least within 2 days, and I can't see any sense at all in paying a hefty premium to use first class post.
DeleteIf we are honest RM don't do themselves any favours having NVI stamps. If I ran the business I would scrap them.
ReplyDeleteThey made sense when postal rates increased by a few pence each year, but now when the rise is in the double digits the case for having them is less obvious. I suppose as people are sending less mail, people might buy a booklet and then want to use them over the next year or two, so there's the convenience factor.
DeleteI still feel Royal Mail would be better off scrapping the two tiers - perhaps issue a single domestic rate stamp, say for £1. Make the rate equivalent to the 2nd class rate in terms of service. For the following year after introducing this single domestic rate, all 2nd class stamps get treated as domestic rate stamps, and 1st class stamps are given priority. Then after that initial year, if people want 1st class service they pay for it - perhaps with an additional priority label. This gives people a year to use up their 1st class stamps. Given Royal Mail did the swap out they have a rough estimate of how many 1st class stamps are out there (I know this is only QEII and KCIII definitives, but how many 1st class commemoratives do people keep?).
There'll be some people who will complain but honestly the average person isn't going to worry.
Agree with Chris on the single rate. I suspect that almost anything which needs to be there next working day is sent electronically or SD. Maybe some people use first class on a birthday/anniversary card to try and get it to arrive on the significant date but that's not so reliable any more so you might as well plan a few days ahead and use 2nd. Same for last minute Christmas cards.
DeleteIf you combine a single £1 inland rate with a £2 international postcard rate as se3simon suggests above then 3 of each or 4+2 makes a usable set of values for a Presentation Pack.
There has been a ruling in place for a long time now that if an envelope carries multiple stamps it should be treated as first class. So just put enough stamps on to satisfy the second class rate and get 1st class service. A lot of my outgoing mail gets there next day this way.
DeleteMike, I'd be interested in knowing more about this 'ruling'. By whom, and when? It seems highly unlikely that a letter with 5 x 1p definitives, or even 5 x 7p commemoratives, on would be delivered without surcharge but it is feasible that a letter with multiple commemoratives totalling 85p could work.
DeleteI suspect it is a continuation of the story started when phosphor bands were introduced. Only the 2nd class stamp had a single band so the story was that any combination of 2-band stamps would be delivered 1st class. That was wrong as well.
While not strictly related I know that when I’ve visited the UK and have sent packages back to Australia those which had stamps applied to them but only paid the surface rate were always sent via airmail, while if they had a label indicating surface mail it always went via surface mail.
DeleteIan,
DeleteYes, "Only the 2nd class stamp had a single band" but I've always known it that any combination of 2-band stamps would be automatically sorted as 1st class rather than "that any combination of 2-band stamps would be delivered 1st class".
Why will there be new Wales 1st and 2nd stamps next month ?
Operational need: supplies of the QE2 ones are low enough that they need to be replenished.
DeleteThanks Ian,
DeleteI hadn't realised we hadn't had the Charles stamps for the four 'countries' yet.
So the other three will presumably be next year ?
I need my thinking cap / calculator to work out various permutations of 2nd or 1st to international economy. I knew penpalling would be a long term hobby, so some of my 1st class stamps I still have available for postage, were purchased at a reasonable rate.
ReplyDeleteI sent out some postcards internationally for World Postcard Day, and oh boy, there's not a lot of room on a postcard for multiple stamps... At least that was also before the postage rate rise, and could get away with 1st + 2nd for economy.
I have been sending more mail out via international economy. One penpal in the US said my letter to him took 9 days. He also said that another penpal's letter (this time with airmail postage) took 11 days!
Why are the stamps so big? Do the commemorative stamps really need to be a couple of inches across? A penpal in Canada uses the teeny weeny definitive scenic stamps - even smaller than a non-datamatrixed Machin.
Some of us might ask why the basic definitive stamps are so big. Yes it's the 'barcode' that causes the problem, but to be honest I don'y think the barcode has done that much to stop fraud, has it?
DeleteThe Canada "From Far and Wide"? They are identical to the old Machin's ... and Canadian definitives going back at least 50 years; at least the gummed ones are. Perhaps the large white framing makes them look smaller?
ReplyDeleteI had not realised why Canadian stamps are too small to appreciate the pictures. It may be because it has been an available standard size for the British empire: but then Swedish & Danish stamps are a similar size, so there may be some technical reason.
DeleteIt wasn't until I was helping a neighbour today (since postage rates had just gone up) to prepare a calendar being sent to Australia that I realised that the International printed paper rate was higher than the letter rate. I'm old enogh to remember being asked "Does it contain a letter as well? If so you'll have to pay more and send it letter rate". How many older individuals are still sending calendars anroad as printed paper under the impression that that is a cheaper rate.
ReplyDeleteOh great, just when I've bought a sheet of £2.50 stamps. Does anyone know a Post Office in Manchester that stocks 20p and 10p stamps? None of the small ones in shops do and as far as I know, the Crown PO has recently closed.
ReplyDeletephilatelink.co.uk have plenty of 20p and 10p stamps, though you will regret previously buying £2.50 stamps at face value.
DeleteNext time you buy stamps for postage in bulk, just use RM online. £50+ provides free postage.
DeleteAny time anybody wants 1st class stamps in bulk I can assure you that there are at least a dozen dealers happy to sell at under face. I wouldn't think any collector would think of going to Royal Mail's website first
DeleteIn January this year my list of Smilers Sheets included many under face. (The list is still valid for remaining stock - see right hand column.)
AJT, well yes, I bought 25 £2.50 stamps for £62.50 and got free postage from RM online, but now I need a bunch of 10p and 20p for topping up my letters abroad. I was lucky to get them in Golborne. Thanks for the link though, I will consider ordering from a dealer in the future as savings seem to be quite significant.
DeleteJust received an order advice note from Royal Mail that there will be a new Wales definitive stamp issued on the 14th November.
ReplyDeleteNothing about England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The only value given is £2.50 please note this not the £2.80 rate for worldwide letters another Royal Mail error !!!!!!!!
£2.50 sounds correct - that would be an 85p second class and a £1.65 first class. If they were to do a £2.80 as well, it would cost £5.30.
DeleteAnother unexpected issue on 14/11/2024, Welsh Country Definitives £2.50 (CS614) and FDC.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Chris. Presumably they will have Charles on them...As they will be issued after they can be stuck on a letter to a foreigner on their own, I think that they are only meant for us mugs to put in albums rather than for birthday cards and letters. Once we have all resented being take for mugs, postage stamps will probably be called in and no longer valid, so we shall have another swap out scheme. You may think me just a pessimist, but then an optimist is someone who has not been told all the facts yet.
DeleteRoyal Mail are complaining their revenue is decreasing, but this is something they are contributing to. For example, today I needed to send a couple of large letters, weight up to 750g, value £50. I would have sent them second class 'Signed For' using postage stamps as I have hundreds to use resulting from swapping out, and it would have cost me £4.40. But as Royal Mail have reduced the compensation from £50 to £20, the alternative using stamps is Special Delivery at £10.35! However, on this occasion, the saving using Tracked 48 and booking on-line only cost me £2.70, for cover up to £150. A no-brainer really (although I can't use up some stamps this way).
ReplyDeleteYes Busmap, making "UK Tracked", for which stamps can't be used up, so much better value than "UK Standard", for which they can, must be Royal Mail's plan for reducing the use of postage stamps on parcels before banning them in just a few years.
ReplyDeleteIf they "ban" the use of postage stamps, which I think unlikely, it will be interesting how they will reimburse those of us that still have hundreds of pounds worth of stamps, that themselves have recently been supplied to us as part of the swap-out scheme for previously invalidated stamps.
DeleteBusmap, I suggested that RM might be banning the use of postage stamps on parcels in just a few years, not banning the use of postage stamps altogether.
DeleteI expect the five most used values, four NVIs and basic international, to be about for quite some time.
Royal Mail's plan for reducing the use of postage stamps on parcels is now shown by the limited usefulness of a "Certificate of Posting" for "UK Standard" stamped packages, now only giving the date and time of posting and the destination address and NOT the weight of the package and the postage paid.
DeleteTalking of new postage rates I notice that there is a Who Booklet to be released so this prompted me to order two from the royal mail of course I nearly fell over if I wasn't sitting down the price of a standard was £11.20 must be same day service to Australia, seem rather excessive, judging by this your inflation is higher than you think or did the post office workers get a big rise.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, but I don't understand this posting... 'Who Booklet", "price of a standard", "same day service to Australia"...?
Delete