ROYAL Mail is hiking the price of stamps again TOMORROW.
the price of a first-class stamp go up by 5p, bringing the cost to £1.70 – while second class stamps will rise by 2p, moving from 85p to 87p.
The postal service announced the change – due to come into effect on Monday (April 7) – last month.
Larger items will also face sharper price hikes, with the cost of a first class large letter up to 100g increasing from £2.60 to £3.15.
And the cost of postage for small parcels weighing up to 2kg is set to increase, with first class rates rising from £4.79 to £4.99 and second class rates climbing from £3.75 to £3.90.
The postal service is also set to increase the fees for signed-for deliveries.
From April 7, the cost of a first class signed-for stamp will rise by 25p, from £3.35 to £3.60.
Similarly, the price of a second class signed-for stamp will increase by 22p, rising from £2.55 to £2.77.
Royal Mail attributed the increases to the ongoing decline in letter-sending volumes.
The company said that annual letter volumes have dropped significantly, from 20billion in 2004/05 to 6.7billion in 2023/24, and are projected to fall further to just four billion within the four years.
At the same time, the number of addresses requiring delivery has grown by four million, further up the cost of maintaining the postal network.
Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully but the cost of delivering mail continues to increase.
“A complex and extensive network of trucks, planes and 85,000 posties is needed to ensure we can deliver across the country for just 87p.
“ has recognised that reform is urgently needed to protect the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service which requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to around 32million UK addresses six days a week.”
Royal Mail added that even with the revised prices, the cost of second and first class stamps in the UK remains below the European average of £1.41 and £1.87 respectively.
How can I beat the price hikes?
, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, has long encouraged Brits to stock up on stamps in bulk ahead of price increases, helping them save a significant amount on their postage costs in future.
He's previously said: “For years, every time stamps go up in price I've suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance, as provided the stamp doesn't have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it's still valid after the hike.
“So you may as well stock up now, even if it's just for cards for the next few Christmases.”
Always buy your stamps from reputable high street outlets and, where possible, hang on to your receipt.
To check whether a stamp is genuine, you can use Royal Mail's new “fake stamp scanner” on the app.
Stamps are also available directly from the Royal Mail online shop, but you have to spend £50 to get free delivery.
If you’d prefer not to stock up on stamps in advance, you might consider switching from first class to second class postage.
While the cost of a second-class stamp is set to rise to 87p, this is only a modest 2p increase.
Second-class delivery usually takes just two to three days, compared to the next-day service provided by first class.
However, with a bit of forward planning, you could save 83p per letter by choosing second class postage instead.
Alternatively, you could save the cost of a stamp entirely by sharing your sentiments through a free e-card.
Lots of companies do this.
Check out friendsoftheearth.uk/take-action where you can send a card to a whole group of people, and it’s up to you if you want to make a donation, too.
There is also a good selection at worldwildlife.org.
If you have an item weighing more than 1kg, a parcel courier website, such as Parcel2Go or ParcelHero, might end up being cheaper than Royal Mail.
Plus, using the right packaging can help cut costs, as postage prices are determined on size and weight.
Pack things as small as possible, making the packaging as thin as you can.
Envelopes and plastic mailing bags are the cheapest – so if you can fit gifts you want to send to a friend into a bag, it could cost less to send.
What else is happening at Royal Mail?
Royal Mail's £3.6billion takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is set to be delayed until the second quarter amid a political crisis in Romania.
Mr Kretinsky's deal to buy Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services was cleared by the UK Government in December last year.
It paved the way for the more than 500-year-old postal service to pass into foreign ownership for the first time.
Mr Kretinsky's EP Group said the only regulatory bar still to be cleared relates to its foreign direct investment in Romania.
Mr Kretinsky made a number of pledges to soothe concerns over his takeover, including a vow to keep the brand name and retain Royal Mail's HQ and tax residency in the UK for the next five years, as well as commitments to protect the company's universal service obligations.
Since the deal was agreed, regulator Ofcom has said it is set to allow Royal Mail to ditch Saturday deliveries for second class letters and cut wider postal delivery targets in view of declining demand for letter mailings.
Ofcom said in January it had provisionally concluded that reducing the second class letter service to alternate weekdays, while keeping first class deliveries six days a week, would continue to meet postal users' needs.
This would save Royal Mail between £250million and £425million a year, according to the regulator.
