Stamp prices soar to record highs

[sweet caroline]

First and second class stamp prices are to increase by 14p from next month to record highs of 60p and 50p, the Royal Mail has announced.

Prices will rise from the current 46p and 36p from April 30, while the cost of posting large letters will increase from 75p to 90p for first class and 58p to 69p for second class.

Just received my Mother's Day card from Daughter .Posted the Friday before Mother's Day from England.Friday past along with mail was a Collect notice .£1 .12 to pay.Son collected it this morning.First class stamp on it ,12d short on postage ,handling fee £1

sweet caroline

Edit-Buy early for Christmas

[Richard]

I have been waiting on some documentation coming from Stirling, 2nd Class.
I live less than a 2 hour drive from Stirling.
It took my documents 5 days to find me.
So much for progress and they are about to rip us off some more ? GREAT.

[sweet caroline]

According to to-days paper,people on certain benefits will be able to buy their Christmass stamps at a reduced cost.Does this mean they will have to show prove of claimed benefit at their local Post Office .

sweet caroline

[Richard]

Good point.
Why not just "Meen's-Test" them ?
Jeeezo, an interrogation just to buy a stamp, whatever next ?

[calleytwo]

Problem is of course it is not the dearest it has ever been. From 1840 to about 1915 the basic letter cost a penny to post. In 1840 that would have been 1/240th of a week's wages of one pound to a well paid tradesman. I don't know exactly how much such a person would be paid today but suspect 600 pounds would be reasonable? Thus at 60 p it repesents 1/1000th of their wage. So perhaps you should be paying over one pound to keep it on parity. Even at the end of the penny post the tradesperson would have only been earning about two pounds so it is still cheapper today than it was. I am aware my estimate of wages may be sketchy but I think my point is still valid. Wee Ali

[Richard]

You may or may not have a point, I don't know, but what I do know is that very few people earn £600 pw.
IMO, the days of "The Letter" are doomed. The invention of cell phones and then the internet have seen
to that. Mail companies such as Royal Mail are well aware of this and are acting accordingly by, I would
imagine, putting their focus & energies into the parcel & business sectors of their industry.
Domestic letter deliveries, as we know them, will end in the near future. When "junk mail" companies
start pulling their business out of Royal Mail, if they start thinking it doesn't pay, that will be another
blow to them.
Royal Mail have been wasting/losing money for decades and now it's joe-public, as usual, who is expected
to pay the price for years of bad management.
Royal Mail is a Ton weight around Westminsters neck and if they could, they would privatise it.
It was not that long ago when you could post a first class letter in Aberdeen, for less than you would pay
today, and it would arrive in London, the very next morning.
If you want that sort of service/guarantee these days, you have to pay for "special delivery".
How is that progress ?

[morag]

One of my best friends worked at the PO and at the time it was considered the best in the world and least expensive, yet when I'd (and still) receive mail from UK and figure out the postage in US dollars, it seemed more expensive. This was back in the 60's she worked there, maybe she was brainwashed..she is a diehard labour voter lol!

[sweet caroline]

I shall tell my family to send me ecards.Wonder if that is just Media hype.How can they stop someone on right benifits to buy for family and friends.

sweet caroline

Edit - Government took over the Royal Mail Pension,easier to find a buyer ,as they want to sell it .

[calleytwo]

You may or may not have a point, I don't know, but what I do know is that very few people earn £600 pw.
IMO, the days of "The Letter" are doomed. The invention of cell phones and then the internet have seen
to that. Mail companies such as Royal Mail are well aware of this and are acting accordingly by, I would
imagine, putting their focus & energies into the parcel & business sectors of their industry.
Domestic letter deliveries, as we know them, will end in the near future. When "junk mail" companies
start pulling their business out of Royal Mail, if they start thinking it doesn't pay, that will be another
blow to them.
Royal Mail have been wasting/losing money for decades and now it's joe-public, as usual, who is expected
to pay the price for years of bad management.
Royal Mail is a Ton weight around Westminsters neck and if they could, they would privatise it.
It was not that long ago when you could post a first class letter in Aberdeen, for less than you would pay
today, and it would arrive in London, the very next morning.
If you want that sort of service/guarantee these days, you have to pay for "special delivery".
How is that progress ?

Very few people made a pound a week in 1840 too - a female teacher might make ten pounds a year.Navvys were the only ones making big money onthe railways and public works. Privatisation always carries the hidden cost to the taxpayer of dole or pension payments for the redundent plus tax breaks for the new contractors, More efficient workers (not always gained) are offset by the profits made by shareholders - often from overseas, which otherwise would have been recirculated in the economy through government worker spending. All too hard! Wee Ali

[Richard]

Mmmmm, I will have to take your word for that Ali. I haven't a clue
I only know what I see. Delivery service worse than it ever was, prices rocketing and RM still losing
money, apparently, faster than a man with no arms ?
And that does not make for a good future for RM. Especially with the bigger, more successful rivals
UPS, TNT and the other European giants, breathing down their necks for a bigger slice of the uk cake.
These companies have already started making in-roads into the uk market.
I think the clock is ticking for RM and I believe the "letters" market will soon be worthless.
All the money to be made is in the Business and Parcel deliveries.
Richard.

[sweet caroline]

Thats what it said in the news the other night.Not the same amount of letters anymore.Cards are still very much used.Someone mentioned we don't like to tell people face to face how much we think of them.Very reserved us Brittish

sweet caroline

[Richard]

It's been that way for years.
IMO, items such as cards etc will end up having to go through the "business rates" system and as we can
see, the prices are already shooting up. Goodness knows what they'll be when the "letters" system stops ?
British ? Reserved ? Now that's sneaky SC,