New Postal Charges

 

There has been some reaction to the new postal charges, in that some have complained that some greetings cards will be more expensive, but I have not seen much about the savings that business will make if they continue to use the Royal Mail.

I suspect that most assume that prices will rise because of the three rates for letters, large letters and packets.

I have written a book called, Making the Most of the Internet, which weighs just under a kilogram and now costs £3.89 to send using First Class Post, as it is too heavy for Second. From the 21st of August it will cost £2.70 First, but I will then be able to send it Second Class at £2.12.

I thought I must have been lucky, but my typical 100g A4 letter has also gone down from 49p to 44p. At least if I still persist in sending lightweight A4 letters, without folding into a smaller envelope, the price will have risen by about a third.

So I checked a magazine that we have posted each month and the postage for that will drop from £1.78 to £1.09. As another example, the Boden catalogue also dropped from £1.21 to 75p.

This is all very strange at a time, when the Royal Mail is supposed to be under pressure on profitability. On the other hand as they must have a very detailed database of everything that is sent, they are unlikely to reduce prices in most areas, without seeing substantial cost savings.