Royal Mail has increased the prices of stamps today. A first class stamp now costs £1.80, while a second class stamp is priced at 91p. The cost of a first class stamp was only 64p in 2016, marking a significant 181% increase over the past decade.
The postal service attributed the price hike to a decline in letter volumes coupled with a rise in the number of delivery addresses. Richard Travers, Royal Mail’s managing director of letters, emphasized the careful consideration given to price adjustments to balance affordability with the escalating costs of mail delivery.
In the UK, adults now spend an average of £6.50 annually on stamps, with a 70% decrease in letters sent compared to two decades ago. However, the number of delivery addresses has surged by four million to reach 32 million addresses nationwide.
Despite ongoing criticism for missing delivery targets, Royal Mail achieved on-time delivery rates of 77% for first class mail and 92.5% for second class mail in the 2024/25 financial year, falling short of its targets of 93% and 98.5%, respectively. The last time the company met its annual target for delivering first-class post on time was in 2019/20.
Last year, Ofcom granted Royal Mail permission to discontinue Saturday deliveries for second class post. Additionally, second class post will now be delivered on alternate weekdays as part of operational changes. However, Royal Mail maintains a target for second class letters to be delivered within three working days.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group acquired Royal Mail for £3.6 billion in June last year. Kretinsky acknowledged delays in mail delivery and stressed the need for structural reforms to address these issues.
When pressed to apologize for service decline by the Business and Trade Committee chairman, Kretinsky expressed regret for late arrivals but disputed claims of declining service quality based on data showing consistent performance over the past three years.
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