In another blow to the greeting card industry – publishers and retailers – and to the general public, who will be forced to pay more to post their cards, last Friday (7 March) saw Royal Mail raise both the price of first and second-class stamps for the sixth time in three years. The price of a first-class stamp will rise from £1.65 to £1.70 from 7 April, while the price of a second-class stamp will go up from 85p to 87p.
Commented Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA: “Yet again, Royal Mail is asking people to keep paying more for less, demonstrating the urgency behind our call for MPs to investigate Ofcom and Royal Mail’s plan to weaken the service.”
She continued: “Our members – and their customers – know imminent plans to slash second-class services will leave them reliant on a first-class stamp at runaway prices. It’s time for MPs to act – they must make sure Royal Mail isn’t given carte blanche to make the postal service less reliable and unaffordable.”
Royal Mail and Ofcom proposals to weaken the postal service need no intervention from government before implementation, bypassing parliamentary scrutiny. Their plans include removing second class deliveries on Saturdays, reducing deliveries to two or three days a week, with the GCA recently launching a petition to make sure those changes are scrutinised by MPs.
The petition can be found at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/701850
Ofcom has confirmed April 10 is the deadline for submissions for their proposals to end Saturday second class delivery, cut delivery days to every other day, and weaken delivery targets for anything sent by Royal Mail.
Top: The rising cost of postage stamps is yet another blow to the greeting card industry and the public.
