First class Stamp - 85p !

[Mr Tom Morrow]

This sums it up to me:-

Keith Williams, interim executive chairman of the Royal Mail Group, said the universal service "remains vitally important" even though letter volumes have fallen by around a third in the past six months.

"The reduction in letter volumes has had a significant impact on the finances of the universal service, which lost £180m in the first half of the year," Mr Williams said.

"This... demonstrates the need to re balance the universal service in line with growing consumer demand for parcels, and lower usage of letters."

Quite simple. Modernise or die. Just look at Retail which hasn't moved with the times.

[thepricefamily]

Originally Posted by force ten

can you sell them on E BAY you would be quid's in

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I don’t send many Christmas cards, but my mum & Nanna do so I give them 25 each! Mum thinks it makes her look posh as she uses 1st class rather than 2nd class stamps for her cards!

[MrsBC]

None of us like price rises but I don't think it's bad when you're only posting a birthday card etc, they can go a very long way with just a stamp on - I only really notice at Xmas when I send off all my Xmas cards and need a mortgage to buy them.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by MrsBC

None of us like price rises but I don't think it's bad when you're only posting a birthday card etc, they can go a very long way with just a stamp on - I only really notice at Xmas when I send off all my Xmas cards and need a mortgage to buy them.

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I agree with you, if the rise was 1p or even 3p a letter.

9p though is a huge rise and the public aren’t daft. The same as BT is seeing the slow but sure demise of landline usage so will Royal Mail in the postal sector
Don’t kill the goose that lays etc etc leaps to mind.

[Princesses 3]

I think the increases have been huge particularly since it was fully privatised a few year ago. At the minute in my area there is no difference between first and second class deliveries with many here only receiving one delivery per week or with a parcel (which are prioritised). I absolutely don’t blame the staff who are so thin on the ground but management who won’t bring the additional staff needed in.
It really is a very poor service at the minute in my area

[Moorlandman]

Prices have gone out of control since it was privatised. 60p just 5 years a go

[BarryandCaron]

I work in a very small village Post Office and have seen the letter/large letter definitely decrease in the last few years. However, parcels and Home Shopping Returns have dramatically increased, especially since March.

A first class stamp is the same for the Outer Hebrides to the Scilly Isles and to Northern Island. Prices of stamps have increased for abroad because of the increase of flight costs due to Covid.

[JAF]

We recently posted a small parcel to ds first class as we wanted to arrive, as stated by the Post Office, the following day and contents were not valuable enough for track and trace. This was an additional 70p and despite posting on Monday it did not arrive till Friday so his birthday card arrived 2 days late. Now we remember why we try not to use the postal service and certainly not '1st' class.

[cornishfrogboy]

It was several years ago that I made a conscious decision to..
1. Only send absolutely essential mail, cutting out all birthday and Christmas cards unless contained within a parcel. I send good wishes by email, text or FB Messenger.
2. Always investigate both Hermes and the Post Office before sending any parcel (previously I was loyal to the Post Office).
3. Rip up all junk Mail out of principal.

Those rules serve me well and I cannot send more than a half dozen self paid envelopes a year. I am fortunate in that it will not affect me if they triple their prices as I have effectively found ways to all but avoid them.

[amy56]

As someone with a husband who works in Royal Mail, I can tell you that they are trying awfully hard to change and evolve their business - this year due to Covid has been the busiest ever but the bulk of their traffic is now parcels. But these mail centres aren’t designed to accommodate the volumes they are getting.

They are also losing money hand over fist as the only area they make money (letters due to the automation they have to process them) is in free fall and the money they lose in sorting and delivery parcels accounts for huge losses, as to stay competitive they operate at a loss currently.

None of this is helped by the parcel delivery companies ‘cherry picking’ the easier deliveries and passing other more difficult locations to RM - RM have to deliver to everyone regardless.

They are all working as hard as they can to speed up the process, create more space for parcel machines and just general space to accommodate all of these bulky items, but with Covid and online shopping booming, it’s been hard to keep up.

Yes the upper management should of acted quicker, but I feel really sorry for the front line staff and managers who have basically been working as if it’s Christmas all year round this year, & we in theory are only just now getting to the ‘busy’ period!

Sorry I’ll get off my soapbox but I do think Royal Mail employees get a rough ride! 😂