Postage increases April 2011

[JSR]

I'm sure we've all heard already about the Royal Mail price increases.

They're hiding it behind the relatively "small" announcement that first class letters are only going up by 5p, but you'd better check out their PDF on all the price rises. Oh, that's right, it's not on their website yet -- presumably because they're too embarrassed. They should be rightfully ashamed of themselves. Here's a direct link: ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/publi ... cument.pdf

After the recent dabacle of no post because of a drop of snow, they have the barefaced cheek to put up prices by, on average, 8%. They say that if they don't then they won't be able to keep up their high level of service. That'll be the high level of service that's pretty much killed off online shopping this Christmas, right?

As of January 31st, some services will also be hit by 20% VAT - making it a double-whammy. Certain postal options could cost almost 30% more than they do now. This selective VAT means that online payment options for certain services will not be available and if you use an inflexible franking machine, you will also be denied the affected services.

A typical example of the price increase -

If you currently sell individual mugs and send them to customers by "First Class Recorded (Signed For)", you're currently paying £2.98. In April, that will be £3.25 - a 27p increase (almost 10%)! If you use the smashproof boxes which are heavier, you could be stung for 33p more than you're paying now.

It'll soon be the case that postage costs more than the item.

If you need to send a 2.5Kg parcel to a customer urgently by Special Delivery with Saturday option, the price increase could be as much as staggering £6.70..!

These increases will undoubtedly free up couriers to put up their prices too - as it stands, certain courier prices are cheaper than Royal Mail for over 2Kg and they provide a better service than the Royal Mail do. That will no doubt change. Higher prices to buy things in, higher prices to send them out.

Don't believe the Royal Mail's headline-grabbing "it's only 5p" and think that this year's increase will be small enough to not worry about. If you're not ready to update your prices by the end of March, you could seriously be out of pocket. It's never too soon to prepare.

[Paul]

... and merry chritmas to all o fyou...
blooyd RM

[JSR]

... and merry chritmas to all o fyou...
blooyd RM

That's probably why they're keeping it off the website for now.

They're quick to say "it's only 5p" and that the VAT increase of January 1st doesn't affect them. But later they will have to say, yes the VAT will affect some services from the end of January and that they're putting prices up by about 10% in April.