New UK Postage Prices April 2012

[Harrison]

I thought it important to make you all aware that UK postage prices are rising this month. So you can factor this when posting interest in items, and for sellers giving quotes.

As usual UK Royal Mail postage prices increase in April. However due to the postage watchdog relaxing restrictions on Royal Mail they are finally allowed to increase their postage prices to match the cost of the service, and to compete with competitors.

This means the prices are going up quite a bit. For home customers these new prices will come into effect on the 30th April, but for business customers using frank machines it take effect today (2nd April).

Full details can be found at http://www.royalmail.com/prices2012 with PDF downloads giving a full data sheet of the new prices.

Stamp prices are the worst effected. A first class staff is increasing from 46p to 60p, a second class from 36p to 50p, and for Large letters fist class from 75p to 90p and second class from 58p to 69p.

Parcel prices have also increased as outlined in the PDF document:

http://c435158.r58.cf3.rackcdn.com/Royal Mail UK Wall Chart.pdf

 

[moggsie]

Slightly above inflation I'd say. Roughly a 30% increase. I wonder if my boss will put my wages up by that much this month?

 

[Harrison]

Also worth mentioning is that if you have any stamps with 1st and 2nd printed on them, rather than the price, they are still valid after the price rise. You could therefore save some money by buying stamps before the 30th April.

For example, buying a book of 10 first class stamps now will cost you £4.60. And after April 30th it will cost you £6.00, so buying before the new price date will save you £1.40.

 

[Harrison]

Slightly above inflation I'd say. Roughly a 30% increase. I wonder if my boss will put my wages up by that much this month?

I expect a lot of the general public will think the same thing. However what you don't know is that the postal regulator (Ofcom) has been fixing/setting dictating the prices Royal Mail can charge for its services for a very long time. This has not been inline with the actual increase in the cost of delivery, which goes a long way to explaining the actual reason Royal Mail Letters has been losing a lot of money year on year for a long time.

Relaxing this restriction has allowed Royal Mail to finally raise the prices to reflect a more realistic price range that won't mean they are losing so much money per letter handled.

 

[moggsie]

Slightly above inflation I'd say. Roughly a 30% increase. I wonder if my boss will put my wages up by that much this month?

I expect a lot of the general public will think the same thing. However what you don't know is that the postal regulator (Ofcom) has been fixing/setting dictating the prices Royal Mail can charge for its services for a very long time. This has not been inline with the actual increase in the cost of delivery, which goes a long way to explaining the actual reason Royal Mail Letters has been losing a lot of money year on year for a long time.

Relaxing this restriction has allowed Royal Mail to finally raise the prices to reflect a more realistic price range that won't mean they are losing so much money per letter handled.

I hear you. And I believe that's fair enough. But I do wonder how much it'll all cost when the Government eventually manage to fully privatise RM.

 

[-Acid-]

If they weren't a monopoly i wouldnt object to them charging what they liked as companies like TNT would keep the prices down through competition. Allowing them to set the prices themselves is a **** take to the people of the UK whilst they are the only supplier of an essential service.

 

[salaxi54]

Again? When was the last time they announced a raise, probably some months ago i think? Was it announced maybe yesterday as an April Fools?

 

[ShambleS1980]

my citylink postage went up too.. last week sometime i think.

was about £7.50 ish. now is £9.90 ish.
I dont like that

any 1 ever wonder what a penny black costed in todays equivalent currency.

apparantly if we go from avarage earnings. the cost would equate to £473.73

 

[AmiNeo]

:huh: That's quite a bit of inflation!

 

[DonAmiga]

For example, buying a book of 10 first class stamps now will cost you £4.60. And after April 30th it will cost you £6.00, so buying before the new price date will save you £1.40.

Also you could sell the same book for £5.60 making you a £1 profit for every book you sell

 

[detrius]

cheaper site foe parcels

cheaper site foe parcels

Hi Guys
Been using the site below for a few months now and found the prices,service and ease better than Royal Mail. Plus they will pick up from you or work etc. Give them a try

http://www.myhermes1.co.uk/

Cheers
Andy

 

[scrappysphinx]

Hi Andy, i use myhermes for most larger parcels on here but i do it through parcel2go.com
They show all different couriers and you can compare the rates and sometimes get a better deal. Have a look around there buddy.

 

[detrius]

Hi
Cheers mate i will look at them. So much better not to have to cart to the post office to be advised next day signed for at £overpriced lol

Andy

 

[Harrison]

Just to clear a few things up here.

If they weren't a monopoly i wouldnt object to them charging what they liked as companies like TNT would keep the prices down through competition. Allowing them to set the prices themselves is a **** take to the people of the UK whilst they are the only supplier of an essential service.

Why do you think RM are the only supplier? The UK is the only EU country to have opened its mail system up to competition. Since this took place a lot of other companies compete within the market, including TNT and BusinessPost. No other company is interested in taking on the consumer stamped mail service, or RM's dedication to deliver to every address in the country. They are only interested in cherry picking the best business customers from the market to maximise profits from bulk mailings.

The thing most people don't know is that RM still have to handle all letters eventually within the system, even from competing companies. How else do you think the letters from TNT and others arrive at your mailbox, delivered by a RM postman? The competing companies collect the mail from their business customers, sort it into regions, and then pass it all on to RM distribution centres, where it is then processed through the system alongside RMs own mail. RM make a lot less money from handling these mail from competitors, and it is this process that has lost RM the most money in recent years. Not a huge drop in mail volumes, but alternative ways the mail is being processed through other companies.

So in effect the competition is just a collection service who hand everything on to RM to continue the rest as normal. Only parcels posted via competitors get handled by them without RMs involvement.

Again? When was the last time they announced a raise, probably some months ago i think? Was it announced maybe yesterday as an April Fools?

Every April the RM prices are increased. It is the only time once per year they review and increase the prices for their whole range of services.