Martin Lewis has cautioned people in the UK to purchase stamps before April, as some prices are set to increase by an inflation-busting 13% next month.
The cost of a first-class stamp for a standard letter will go up by 10p from £1.25 to £1.35, according to the expert’s website. This is an 8% price hike.
Simultaneously, a stamp for a large letter sent first-class will increase by 15p, from £1.95 to £2.10, also representing an 8% increase.
Meanwhile, Royal Mail has confirmed that the price of a second-class stamp on a standard letter will also increase by 10p on April 2, bringing the cost to 85p, a significant 13% increase.
Initially, the difference may not seem substantial, but when compared to the cost of stamps this time last year, it’s quite eye-opening.
A year ago, a first-class stamp cost 95p before being raised to £1.10 in April 2023, and then increased by another 15p in October last year.
‘Whenever stamp prices have increased in the past, I've advised people to stock up and buy in advance. As long as the stamp doesn't show a price and only indicates the postage class, it remains valid after the price hike,’ stated Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com.
‘This has been an effective strategy, as a first-class letter stamp is now £1.25, soon to be rising to £1.35 – in 2012 it was just 60p. So you may as well stock up now.’
The Royal Mail has stated that they have no choice but to increase the prices – a statement that is likely to be unpopular with traditional letter senders.
Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail stated: ‘We face a situation where letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years, while costs have increased. It is no longer sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion.’
Earlier this week, Martin Lewis received an award at the Royal Television Society’s annual awards in London, for his consumer champion journalism helping the nation deal with the cost of living crisis.
Recently, he has informed people who have purchased cars on finance that they could be owed thousands of pounds without realizing it, and also advised parents on how to claim £1,000 for their child that’s just ‘sat waiting for them‘ in an under-utilized government scheme.
As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes.
