Increase in the price of postage.

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/43aooan

So a 1st class postage stamp will now cost 46p, from today an increase of 5p per stamp.

I bet all these retailers are laughing all the way to the bank, because (if I have done my calculations correctly), If yesterday a retailer had bought a stock of stamps, he tends to make a good profit on them overnight.

Taking that if he bought only 50 books of 12 1st class stamps at yesterday prices, less 7% offered by the Royal Mail he stands to make £47.22 profit on them, if he sells them at today's prices.

[jackthehat]

Retailers making profits !!!!

God Lord, where will it all end........?

[andy-hughes]

Such are the vagiaries of retail trade.

By the same token, anyone who stocked up will be in pocket as well.

[horseshoes]

Good for them! There's precious little profit for them anywhere else these days.

[gingejbee]

...and before anybody starts complaining about this new price - try getting your letter from London to Aberdeen by any other means for 46 pence.

[jackthehat]

You'll not catch me moaning, gingejbee...........I absolutely agree.

[anotheoldgit]

/// try getting your letter from London to Aberdeen by any other means for 46 pence. ///

By Email perhaps?

[horseshoes]

I hate the way the press label the Royal Mail as inefficient. I personally, post a very large amount of mail and I can't fault the service. Hat's off to the RM I say. I'd hate to see it go.

[gingejbee]

aog; e-mail is not exactly a letter, is it. And, if you're using only e-mail, the price of postage isn't going to concern you at all, is it?

[Postdog]

Yay, some poisitive comments for a change instead of slagging off. You wait till it becomes fully privatised then see the price shoot up though.

[anotheoldgit]

gingejbee

/// aog; e-mail is not exactly a letter, is it. And, if you're using only e-mail, the price of postage isn't going to concern you at all, is it? ///

It was you setting the challenge, I was only responding.

I wasn't saying that the price of a stamp was of concern to me, I was only giving an alternative to postage.

It may not be a letter in ther true sense of the word, but surely it would serve the same purpose.

If one chose to correspond with someone in Aberdeen or perhaps anywhere else in the world via Email, then surely it would be much better value than the 46p inland cost, charged by the Royal Mail?

[jackthehat]

Official-type documents, etc, rely on a signature for authentication/verification. That is NOT possible by e-mail.......
Indeed it is true that a great deal of letter-writing is now done electronically, but not all correspondence can be dealt with in this manner.

[horseshoes]

EXACTLY Postdog which is why I fully support it wherever and whenever I can - and no, I don't work for them, nor do my relatives.

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, the mark up they will make is less than 20% - not exactly excessive.

Whilst prices have gone up, if you look at the price of stamps in this country compared to the rest of the world, you will find that we are very competitive:
http://www.psc.gov.uk/documents/952.pdf

(Whilst I appreciate that this is a couple of years out of date, even if you took today's price compared to the rest of the world assuming that they haven;t had a price increase, we are still not very expensive)

[anotheoldgit]

jackthehat

/// but not all correspondence can be dealt with in this manner.///

Quite agree, that stands for reason.

Would be Interested to know how triggerhippy would send a package via Email?

[anotheoldgit]

'to reason'

[jackthehat]

He couldn't.................and *that* is his point.

[vulcan]

An interesting comparison list, Oneeyedvic, I wonder how vast countries like America and Australia can do it cheaper than the UK.