As expected Royal Mail
have announced the new tariff for inland and international post to
take effect from 30 March 2015. Under the current regulatory regime
the company is required to give 30 days notice of any material
changes.
While there are
expected small increases in some rates, there are significant
reductions in others and a further restructuring of international
letter and inland parcel rates and weights.
Headline changes
Inland
1st and 2nd class letters rise by 1p to 63p and
54p respectively.
1st
class Large Letters rise by 2p to 95p and 2nd class by 1p
to 74p.
Royal
Mail signed for fee remains £1.10 and there are small rises in
Special Delivery rates.
The
basic International letter rate rises as expected to £1 from
97p. This covers European letters up to 20g, Worldwide letters up to
10g and postcards. In a further restructuring the 60g weight step is
abolished with the new rates for 100g being only slightly more than
the present rates for 60g, so a significant 35% reduction on
the present 100g rates. The surface mail rate rises from 81p to 85p.
A
new category of International Large Letter is introduced with four
weight steps from 100g to 750g. This replaces the current small
parcel up to 100g and offers a welcome reduction in that rate, from
£3.20 / £3.80 / £4.00 for Europe / World Zone 1 / World Zone 2 to
£2.45 / £3.15 / £3.45.
For
inland parcels the trial £2.80 rate for 2nd Class Small
Parcels up to 2kg is retained on a permanent basis. For Medium
Parcels the 1st class rates are unchanged, but 2nd
class rates are reduced with a single rate up to 2kg of £4.89,
down from £5.20 for 1kg and £8.00 for 2kg, a saving of 38%!
No new stamps are
required for the inland letter rates, nor the Signed For or Special
Delivery rates. New stamps for international letters will be
£1.33 replacing £1.28
for World 20g
£1.52 replacing £1.47
for Europe 60g becoming 100g
£2.25 replacing £2.15
for Worldwide 60g which becomes 100g
Whilst no new £1
Machin stamp is required Royal Mail may take the opportunity to
change the colour again, despite some Post Office branches still
selling the £1 ruby! There will be new £1 country definitives in
the Oak Tree, Lace, Thistle and Daffodil designs.
Post and Go / Self-Service Kiosks
The biggest change for
collectors comes in the Post and Go Faststamps which will see
service indicators change again. The overall cost of a collectors
set rises from £7.42 to £7.68. Will we see the installation of new
static machines before the new tariff takes effect? (They wouldn't be
that cynical would they?)
Service
|
2014/15
|
2015/16
|
1st class 100g
|
62p
|
63p
|
1st Large 100g
|
93p
|
95p
|
Euro20/World10
|
97p
|
£1.00
|
Europe 60g*
|
£1.47
|
£1.52
|
Worldwide 20g
|
£1.28
|
£1.33
|
Worldwide 60g*
|
£2.15
|
£2.25
|
* changing to 100g
It is to be hoped that
the cupboards full of old Faststamp stock have all been used up and
we will not see the appearance of everything from Birds 1 to Winter
Greenery with the new service indicators. As Wincor-Nixdorf machines
are supposed to be out of service by the time the new tariff is in
force the only changes will be on NCR Self-Service Kiosks and IAR's
Royal Mail II machines at exhibitions and static locations.
UPDATE 31 March
Preparing my first International Tracked and Signed despatch of the week, I find that a subtle change has been introduced which will require authors who publish postal history rates tables to reassess how they present information. Until the new rates came into operation on 30th March, the additional cost of
International Signed,
International Tracked and Signed, and
International Tracked could be regarded as a fee because, leaving aside the inclusion of VAT for I
nternational Tracked to EU countries, the additional cost for all of these services was
a flat £5 per item.
When I looked at the new rates I thought that the
£5 had been retained. And indeed for 'Letters' it has: a 20g Tracked and Signed Letter costs £6 to Europe and £6.33 to the rest of the world. But for Large Letters and Small Parcels things have changed and the additional cost varies according to the item and the weight.
For instance a 100g Large Letter costs £2.45 by
Standard mail, but £8.70 by
Tracked and Signed, a premium of
£5.65. But the price of a Large Letter weighing 500-750g is £11.00 by
TandS compared with £6.60 by
Standard - a premium of only
£4.40. The premium for Small Parcels and Printed Papers varies from
£4.75 at the first weight step to
£3.50 for the top 2kg band.
This leaves small businesses who use flat-rate postage with a problem of how to set their new postage charges, and means that postal historians of the future will need to know the whole table, rather than applying simply the standard postage plus a fixed premium.
produced,
there was no catalogue listing. When Stanley Gibbons catalogue
editors did compile a listing it was fairly straightforward, with one
catalogue number assigned to each of the five original values.
produced,
there was no catalogue listing. When Stanley Gibbons catalogue
editors did compile a listing it was fairly straightforward, with one
catalogue number assigned to each of the five original values.
The
localised or commemorative inscriptions (variously and incorrectly
described as either underprints or overprints by some) to stamps sold
at Stampex and international exhibitions, are in the FT
series.
Our stock is listed on our webshop here. The software arranges stock in a certain logicality, but it is not completely intuitive even in our system. Some first day covers are also available.
Wincor Nixdorf machine issues
Machin Head increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Birds 1 No known change
Birds 2 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)
Birds3 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)
Birds 4 increased from 36 to 48 values (12 values)
Sheep increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Pigs increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Cattle increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Union Flag increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Robin MA12 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Lakes increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Ponds increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Rivers increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Machin Head MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (3 values)
Union Flag MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 9 values (seen on eBay, issued by Harrogate)
Robin MA13 reprint increased from 6 to 8 values (2 values)
Spring Blooms increased from 36 to 54 values (18 values)
Symbolic Flowers increased from 36 to 42 values (6 values)
Poppy (solo stamp) 7 values
Winter Greenery (1st class) 12 values
Winter Greenery (2nd class) 12 values (issued in error by Farringdon Road and Perth)
NCR (NVI values only) not including class swap rolls*
Machin (1st class) 9 values
Machin MA13 reprint (1st class) 9 values
Machin MA14 reprint (1st class) 6 values
Machin MA12 (2nd class) 2 values
Machin MA13 reprint (2nd class) 2 values
Machin MA14 reprint (2nd class) 2 values (Two part centre band)
Machin MA14 reprint (2nd class) 2 values (Full Centre band)
Union Flag 7 values
Robin MA13 reprint 6 values
Spring Blooms 42 values
Symbolic Flowers 36 values
Poppy (solo stamp) 6 values
Winter Greenery (1st class) 12 values
Winter Greenery (2nd class) 4 values
And then there’s the exhibition/static machine issues