April 2009 Postage Stamp Price Rises

The cost of posting first and second class letters is to increase from 36p (1st class) by 3p to 39p and from 27p (2nd class) to 30p from April 2009.

I have not had chance to digest international price rises at this time , but for your information current 2008 International rates at this time are:

Basic Europe rate 10gr and postcards: 50p (earlier 'E' rate stamps still valid).

Basic Worldwide rate (now only 1 zone) 10gr and postcards: 56p

Worldwide 20gr rate: 81p

Worldwide 40gr rate: £1.22 only one zone now covered by airmail NVI.

The Surface mail 20gr is at present 48p.

A link has been provided here which displays all Royal Mails prices for 2009.

It is Possible that five new Machin values will be added to the list. It seems as though these will be sold in sheets of 100. These are the values that will be available from April 2009 at the post shop.

Note that acording to the information supplied they are all in sheets of 100 which may suggest that they will be all self adhesive with new security slits.

First Class self-adhesive stamps £39.00 per sheet,
Second Class self-adhesive stamps , £30.00 per sheet

First Class Large Letter self-adhesive stamps, £30.50 (sheets of 50)
Second Class Large Letter self-adhesive stamps £23.50 (sheets of 50)

1p value , 2p value , 5p value , 9p value , 10p value , 17p value ( new stamps) , 20p value , 22p value ( new stamps) , 50p value, 54p value (new stamps) , 56p value , 62p value (new stamps ), 90p value (new stamps) , £1.00 value.

High values

£1.50 stamps , £2.00 stamps, £3.00 stamps, £5.00 stamps.

Stamp Rolls

500 x First Class stamps : £195.00
500 x Second Class stamps: £150.00
1000 x First Class stamps: £390.00
1000 x Second Class stamps: £300.00
10000 x First Class stamps: £3,900.00
10000 x Second Class stamps: £3,000.00

Which of these new values will also be extended to new Country Regional values?

The stamp price rises follow increases last April, when first class stamps rose by 2p to the current 36p and second class by 3p to the present 27p. Business customers will see average price increases of 4.2%, although there will be smaller rises for firms using franking machines and pre-paid accounts.

The Royal Mail said "the increases will add less than 5p to the average UK household's weekly expenditure". It does not mention the extra expense for collectors of Royal Mail products. Far in access of 5p I guarantee you!

They (RM) go on to state "even after the increases, UK stamp prices would remain among the lowest in Europe, while quality of service was among the best. Stamped mail will still be loss making after the new prices come into effect", the company added.

Luisa Fulci, Royal Mail's director of marketing services, said: "Stamped mail remains very affordable and consumers are still receiving excellent value for money - most countries in Europe charge more to deliver less.

"Our over-riding priority must be to safeguard the currently loss-making six-days-a-week one-price-goes-anywhere universal service, a task which the current market makes much harder, as big business customers choose other forms of electronic communications or competing operators instead of continuing to subsidise consumers."

The Royal Mail have also said "the change in the way people communicated was accelerating the structural decline in market volumes, with the recent Hooper report into the postal market predicting that volumes could fall by between 5% and 7% a year".

Machin Trivia

It has been estimated that around five million fewer letters are being delivered every day compared with two years ago.