Just read they are increasing first class to £1.10 and 2nd class to 75p for standard, not sure about large letters or parcels
Wow - trying to stop people sending letters by the look of it and it doesn’t bode well for parcels either! It won’t be long before people think that ordering online is too expensive and start wishing their local shops had not closed! Thank you for the update x
ist class small package is going down from £4.45 to £4.19 and signed for from £5.55 to £5.39. Every little helps
It does, unless most of what you send can go as a letter or large letter.
that is dreadful…we will all be out of business at this rate…I already stopped sending Christmas cards…
Crikey, 95p to £1.10 is a big hike for 1st class letters
2nd class signed for small parcels which I mainly use, £4.45 up to £4.69
There is still a 2 tier pricing system depending on whether you buy your postage on line or at the post office. Here is a link for the prices changes for postage purchased via click and drop (the link that Joysofglass posted is prices for buying at the post office).
Track24 and special delivery (the services I use) aren’t changing price wise if you purchase online (which I do)
Why I buy at the post office…:
Because I live in a rural area, 5 miles from town. I have to drive 10 miles there and back to get to the post office and town and also pay £1.20 parking.
I can walk to my local post office which is also the little village shop where I can get cash, change for floats when I do markets, and chocolate and cards and all sorts of things.
If I and the other online sellers in the area start buying online then Jo will undoubtedly
close sooner or later… and then I will have to drive to town … that’s why.
Oh and between me changing to online and her closing through lack of trade… the shop will be filled with post bags fulll of my online paid postage as she has only a tiny area behind her post office counter to store those packages… for which she gets paid
£0.
I charge my customers what it costs me so no loss to me and I doubt I lose much custom because of that small difference between online and post office costs but I can post every day as long as I have a local post office and sometimes within 15 minutes of getting an order… and I’m pretty sure I get custom because of that.
So my motto is… use it or lose it
I don’t have a car and unable to get to the local SPAR…a steep mile mountain walk…So I buy books of stamps from Tesco and they come with my groceries…Then my daughter pops them in the post box for me on her way to work. I could buy online postage but sometimes have a problem with getting the radio controlled printer to work and that worries me. Like Joy, I only charge what it costs me…people are already stopping sending cards and that is impacting on my card sales and I don’t sell enough paintings to make it worthwhile…Also because I cannot get to the post office everything that I sell has to fit in the local post box. I know I could have them collected but then there is a further charge for that privilege, so I can’t win really.
Please don’t think that my comment was a criticism of anyone who opts to buy their postage at the post office or as stamps, for those in rural areas the post office can be a life line for not just posting but also banking and shopping and you’re right if you don’t use their services they will go.
For me (an urbanite) the Royal Mail depot is closer than any of the post offices and has better hours (opening earlier and staying open later) so I can drop off packages round the other hours I work - that wouldn’t be possible at the post office and could delay dispatch by several days. I’d be buying postage online and dropping off at the depot even if it wasn’t cheaper.
We have to look into all the options and work out what works best for our circumstances.
Sasha and neither was my comment a critiism of those who do use the online but I do sometimes get quite worried that my local post office wiill not be there for ever which would be pretty disastrous for me and others like me
That didn’t make any difference for my local post office. I always used it and it still closed down. Now, unless me and hubby are off work so I have the car, I have little option other than to buy online.
Should we just hop on a bus or train and deliver the packages ourselves??
Not for me. I sell a surprising proportion of my things to Scotland, sometimes to the islands right at the top and to Wales.
might make a nice holiday Joy…lol
Like Joy and Brenda I only charge what it costs me. I suppose we will have to see what further impact it has on sales but fear it won’t be good. Does anyone use 2nd class rather than 1st? I’ve always sent out 1st class, now wondering about that due to this hike. I don’t think you have the £20 cover with 2nd class? I go to the Post Office in my local Spar, as I like to get a proof of postage receipt. We are really fortunate, it’s only a 5 min drive or 20 min walk and we always seem to need milk or bread!
That price guide looks the same as the one Joy posted🤔
I’ve also always sent 1st class, starting to think that I may change to 2nd, although many of my customers like quick delivery. Think I shall have to some investigating, maybe do first class as an upcharge???
Yes you do still get the £20 cover with second class.