Stamps to rise by 3p under Royal Mail proposals

The price of first class stamps is to rise by a record 3p under Royal Mail plans to improve the company’s finances, reports The Daily Telegraph. The article continues:

Postcomm, the industry regulator, has backed a Royal Mail request for a change in its licence to allow a 3p increase on first class stamps, taking them from 39p to 42p.

Postcomm has sent out the proposals for consultation which would come into force by April 2010 but justified the rises saying “Royal Mail Letters’ finances are weak and deteriorating.”

The move would see Royal Mail make an extra £100m a year. The price of a second class stamp could rise by 2p, to 32p.

It comes as the postal service has been hit by a series of regional strikes, with 130,000 members of the Communications Workers Union having balloted on a national strike.

Royal Mail is also reportedly looking to increase other postal charges, such as special delivery, parcels and PO box addresses. They claim that their income has been hit badly by the strikes as well as consumers increasingly using emails and Internet transactions.

Consumer Focus, the official customer body, said the proposals were a “low blow”.

“This is paying for failure”, said Ed Mayo, Consumer Focus’s chief executive. “The only reason to hike up the price of a stamp is because Royal Mail has failed to modernise as a business.”

“This is a low blow from a regulator whose job it ought to be to protect the public.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail has not made any decision on price increases or decreases for next year.”