Royal Mail Stamp Prices to Increase by 50% in April 2012?
An Ofcom (the Royal Mail regulator) announcement on Thursday this week confirmed their agreement that the cost of buying a second-class stamp can jump by more than half in April 2012 by letting Royal Mail increase the price of standard second-class postage stamps to a figure between 45p and 55p (currently 36p). Ofcom say this represents a "price cap" designed to "protect vulnerable customers". In addition Ofcom also said they didn't feel a need to limit the cost of first-class stamps meaning a similar price increase could be on the cards for next-day mail delivery.
If the same 50+ per cent increase being allowed for second-class is applied to first-class stamps it would see the cost of overnight delivery rocket from 46p to 70p for standard size items weighing up to 100gm. Ofcom maintain that Royal Mail, in practice, would be unable to increase the cost of first-class stamps by too much as that would risk a mass defection to second-class postage by customers. Cynics say that such a defection depends more on the price differential rather than the cost of first class mail alone as, if second-class mail cost jumps to 55p, the existing 14p differential in service prices can be maintained if first class stamps are priced at 69p.
As Royal Mail are facing more competition from the private sector and electronic comunication, they are handling around 20 Million fewer items of mail each day compared to just five years ago which is causing significant losses. A spokesperson for Royal Mail neither confirmed or denied the possibility of a massive price hike in stamp prices by saying; "We haven't made any decisions about prices yet."
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