Royal Mail has announced that from next year the prices of stamps will increase by nearly 10p.
Royal Mail announced that from 1 January, 2021 the price of a 1st Class stamp will increase by 9p to 85p and the price of a 2nd Class stamp will increase by 1p to 66p.
The company said these changes are necessary to “help ensure the sustainability of the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service”.
A statement from Royal Mail said: “The Universal Service Obligation, which requires Royal Mail to be able to deliver to 31 million home and business addresses across the UK, comes with high fixed costs. During the coronavirus pandemic, letter volumes saw a 28 per cent fall. The reduction in letter volumes has had a significant impact on the finances of the Universal Service which lost £180 million in the first half of the year."
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