The cost of Royal Mail stamps has increased once again today. First-class stamps now carry a price tag of £1.80, while second-class stamps are priced at 91p. Notably, the cost of a first-class stamp stood at 64p in 2016, indicating a significant 181% surge over the past decade.

The surge in stamp prices has been attributed by Royal Mail to a decrease in letter volumes being sent, coupled with a rise in the number of delivery addresses. Richard Travers, the managing director of letters at Royal Mail, emphasized the careful consideration given to price adjustments to balance affordability with the escalating mail delivery costs.

Statistics reveal a notable shift in consumer behavior, with UK adults now spending an average of only £6.50 annually on stamps, while there has been a substantial 70% reduction in the number of letters sent compared to two decades ago. Concurrently, the number of addresses serviced by Royal Mail has grown by four million to encompass 32 million addresses across the UK.

Royal Mail has been facing criticism for consistently missing its delivery targets. Notably, during the 2024/25 financial year, the postal service managed to deliver only 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time, falling short of its 93% and 98.5% targets. The last time Royal Mail met its annual target for timely first-class post delivery was in 2019/20.

In response to operational challenges, Royal Mail was granted approval by Ofcom to discontinue Saturday deliveries of second-class post. Additionally, there has been a shift to delivering second-class post on alternate weekdays instead of the previous six-day schedule. Despite these service adjustments, Royal Mail is committed to ensuring that second-class letters arrive within three working days.

Royal Mail, acquired in June for £3.6 billion by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group, has acknowledged shortcomings in service quality. Mr. Kretinsky expressed regret for delayed deliveries and highlighted the necessity of implementing reforms to address systemic issues impacting service reliability. When questioned about declining service standards, he expressed regret for any delayed deliveries but disputed claims of declining service quality, citing consistent performance levels over the past three years.