The Lemon Fool

see e.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64840646

From 3 April, first class stamps will increase by 15p to £1.10, while second class stamps will rise by 7p to 75p.

I make that a 15% increase on first class, and 10% on second class.
I would normally stock up before the price rise, but I've still got quite a number after the stamp swap-out scheme, and I barely use many stamps these days anyway.

I saw the picture of this stamp today, with King Charles' head on it. That reminded me of the first stamps I remember as a boy, with the queen's head on. No first class and second class in those days - just first class, costing twopence-ha'penny, or about 1p. That means that the price has gone up by more than 100 times.

That was in about 1965. In Queen Victoria's time, the penny post started in 1840, so in 125 years, the price went up by a factor of two and a half.

Bminusrob wrote:I saw the picture of this stamp today, with King Charles' head on it. That reminded me of the first stamps I remember as a boy, with the queen's head on. No first class and second class in those days - just first class, costing twopence-ha'penny, or about 1p. That means that the price has gone up by more than 100 times.

That was in about 1965. In Queen Victoria's time, the penny post started in 1840, so in 125 years, the price went up by a factor of two and a half.

Yes. Thanks to yorkshirelad1 for the reminder. These price increases are quite horrendous but I do not use many stamps anyway although I may buy a few before the increase. They will presumably die out in a few years but in the meantime I think Royal Mail should stop daily deliveries and collections and certainly cut out Saturday working. With email it is no wonder RM is dying.

It will become just another courier service.

Dod

Buy 100,000 stamps now, then sell them on EBay @ £1.05 after April 3rd.......£10,000 profit.

Dod101 wrote: I think Royal Mail should stop daily deliveries and collections and certainly cut out Saturday working. With email it is no wonder RM is dying.

It will become just another courier service.

They could save a fortune by stopping home delivery. I have used a mailbox service for the last 20 years and so never receive post at home. I just pick up my post once a week or so.

In small towns in America there is no home USPS delivery. You just have a mailbox at your local PO, or else a letterbox out on the main road.

It's mostly junk anyway these days.

Seems a big increase

It's still a bargain. You can get somebody to take a physical thing, from the south coast of Britain to a croft 20 miles down a single track road in the Outer Hebrides, in a day or two, for not much more than a quid.

(Just as well it's subsidised by all those Londoners sending bulk mail to half a mile away )

Scott.

swill453 wrote:(Just as well it's subsidised by all those Londoners sending bulk mail to half a mile away )

Scott.

Yes, as my postperson is fond of saying "if it wasn't for the junk mail, I'd be out of a job".

Laughton wrote:

swill453 wrote:(Just as well it's subsidised by all those Londoners sending bulk mail to half a mile away )

Scott.

Yes, as my postperson is fond of saying "if it wasn't for the junk mail, I'd be out of a job".

I expect that sooner or later half of them will be out of a job. It makes no sense when you consider the effort that goes into it for the post van to come down our road six days a week.
It could be Monday Wednesday and Friday and another district Tuesday Thursday and Saturday. That would require half the delivery staff.

Dod

We already get our post every other day now so I guess my local post depot has already implemented that idea.

richlist wrote:Buy 100,000 stamps now, then sell them on EBay @ £1.05 after April 3rd.......£10,000 profit.

dont forget sellers fees....and ''postage'' costs

qq
That would require half the delivery staff.
uq
most businesses with less customers than previously need less staff.......but not in public sector it sems
a bit like the railways needing less staff as less customers....unions wouldnt accept it

mutantpoodle wrote:qq
That would require half the delivery staff.
uq
most businesses with less customers than previously need less staff.......but not in public sector it sems
a bit like the railways needing less staff as less customers....unions wouldnt accept it

I do not know what 'qq' and 'uq' mean but Royal Mail is of course in the private sector.

Sorry to be pedantic but I guess the word is 'fewer'. I agree with your sentiment though.

Dod

I would agree with ''fewer''......still too many tho

qq and uqq...is *for me ) 'Quote and UnQuote'

I'm sure some have, but I haven't actually noticed which days they've been on strike.

I could probably get away with a once a week delivery or collecting it from a mailbox in town.

Times are changing fast. I wont have a landline soon, I get little of interest via the post and an ever increasing amount of my tv viewing comes from streaming services. The old services that I grew up with are being wound down and replaced. Maybe not before time

swill453 wrote:It's still a bargain. You can get somebody to take a physical thing, from the south coast of Britain to a croft 20 miles down a single track road in the Outer Hebrides, in a day or two, for not much more than a quid.

(Just as well it's subsidised by all those Londoners sending bulk mail to half a mile away )

Scott.

And it's high time this ridiculous state of affairs ceased. I suspect the unions might have an opinion about it though.

mutantpoodle wrote:I would agree with ''fewer''......still too many tho

qq and uqq...is *for me ) 'Quote and UnQuote'

Thanks. I had not thought of that.

Dod

Frankly if the Royal Mail closed tomorrow would 90% or more of the population notice.

I have just returned home from a few months away, and going back a decade or more I would have struggled to have opened the door for the mail that would be piled up.

Now however... perhaps 10 envelopes and most of that mail was from TV Licencing who were exceedingly miffed that I didn't have a licence whilst I wasn't in the UK, whilst their restrictions prevent me using the iPlayer whilst overseas. Other than that, frankly nothing other than 'please buy this or that' mailings that went straight into the bin.

Everything important these days is delivered electronically or by courier.

That's not true as far as I'm concerned. I choose not to have a printer or a smart phone so insist on receiving my documents by post.......legal, insurance, financial etc. The recent postal strike was a real problem.

Pretty much all I receive these days from my Postie in his shiny new all electric overhead is leaflets for sun awnings, conservatories and free eye tests.
The in demand parcel bit has been separated now so it makes me think that this strike action for, amongst other things, a double digit pay increase is like Turkeys voting for Christmas.