Financial winners and losers in post shake-up
Today is the Royal Mail’s red letter day. The price of post will now depend on the size of what you are sending.
The new system has three categories.
The letter classification, with maximum 5mm thickness, is equivalent to a standard birthday card and the large letter, 25mm, around the depth of a monthly magazine.
The packet category covers anything larger.
The Royal Mail has predicted more than 85% of stamped mail will be the same price or cheaper than the old system.
Post in the letter category is 32p, the same as the old first class stamp.
A large letter weighing 100 grammes containing a DVD would have cost 49p, but under the new rules is 44p.
And the price of a large letter weighing in at 700 grammes has halved from GBP 2.69 to today’s new rate of GBP 1.31.
Something like a poster rolled up in a cardboard tube will cost significantly more, up from GBP 1.14 to GBP 1.70.
But a hardback tome like Harry Potter, weighing 723 grammes, costs GBP 2.20 from today instead of GBP 2.89.
The new pricing structure is called “Pricing In Proportion”.
And although it may take a while to get used to, it’s not nearly as complicated as it was in the early days of post.
When the Royal Mail was created in the 17th century only letters to and from the King and the Royal Court were carried.
By 1635 the service was opened to public use but postal rates were hugely complicated.
The price depended on the distance travelled and the number of sheets of paper in the letter.
It was so time-consuming and expensive that only firms and the very rich could afford it.
The penny post was introduced about 60 years later – it doubled to tuppence in London in 1801 – and in 1840 the first stamp, the Penny Black, went on sale.
Ian McKay, Royal Mail’s director of Scottish affairs, said one of the easiest ways to save money under the new rules was to fold all A4 items in half and put them in a C5 envelope.
Watchdog body Postwatch said there would be financial “winners and losers”.
More information is available at www.royalmail.com/pip or call: (08456) 113 113.
