Royal Mail to raise price of stamps from 23 March
The Royal Mail will raise the prices of its stamp from 23 March as the former postal monopoly continues to struggle against a “challenging business environment”.
A first class stamp will increase by 6p to 76p, while the price of a second class stamp will increase by 4p to 65p.
The postal service said that the changes were “necessary to help ensure the sustainability of the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service”.
A number of challenges are facing the firm, which is seeking to invest £1.8bn into the business in order to adapt to the changing dynamics of the sector.
The Royal Mail added that “the likelihood has increased that Royal Mail in the UK will be loss making in 2020-21” as it seeks to make changes to its business model.
The Royal Mail’s stamps are considerably cheaper than the majority of its European counterparts, with the average price of a first class stamp across the continent £1.05.
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Stephen Agar, Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail said: “We are operating in a tough market at present, under the threat of making a loss by 2021.
“These price increases will help us maintain the quality of service that is expected by our customers, while supporting the Universal Service.”
Earlier today Royal Mail’s biggest union announced that plans for its first national strike in a decade were ongoing, saying it could call a stoppage as early as next month.
The announcement came despite the Royal Maul yesterday proposing a six per cent three-year pay deal to the Communications Workers Union in a bid to avoid such strike action.
However, the CWU said today that threat of strike action, which was first announced earlier this month, is not linked to the pay dispute but to wider issues around the former postal monopoly.
The union said: “The pay offer is not linked to the dispute. We are balloting on the direction of the company, them breaching national agreements, the culture of the workplace”.