BUY STAMPS NOW WHILE PRICES LAST!
You can get an almost instant return of up to 6% on small amounts of money if
you act before 31 March. That’s when the price of first and second class stamps
goes up by 2p to 62p and by 3p to 53p. Large letter stamps will rise by 3p to
93p and 4p to 73p. If you buy 1st or 2nd class stamps
before 31 March you will pay the old price. So overnight at midnight on 30 March
your stamps will go up in value by 6% for second class and more than 3% for
first class.
Older readers may think of those
prices as nearly 12s 6d and 10s 8d – for one letter! Royal Mail blames the cost
of providing what is called the universal service – its obligation to charge one
flat rate price for delivery anywhere in the UK six days a week. But that has
been the essence of the Royal Mail for nearly 175 years since the Penny Post was
introduced on Friday 10 January 1840.
The now famous ‘penny black’ stamp would pay for an envelope weighing up to half
an ounce (28g) to go throughout the UK – which then included the whole of
Ireland – usually by the next day and sometimes the same day – in London there
were up to ten deliveries a day. One (old) penny in 1840 is equivalent to about
33p today, little more than half the new price of a first class standard letter
stamp. To be fair that stamp today will ensure the mail reaches anywhere in the
UK next day 93% of the time and applies up to 100g (about 3.5oz). In 1840 a
letter weighing 3oz (85g) would have cost 6d which is about £2 in today's money.
The new prices start on Monday 31 March so there is still time to go out and buy
a stock of stamps at the old cost. Remember first and second class stamps can be
used at their new values to make up bigger amounts - including foreign mail and
parcels. So even if you don't expect to send many UK letters, if you send some
abroad or you expect to send a parcel or two it is still worth buying first and
second class stamps so you can use their value to make up other postage rates.
That value will also rise as midnight strikes on Sunday March 30th.
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