Hongkong Post Rate Increase

Hongkong Post is to go ahead with an increase in postal charges in April – the first in six years – despite expecting a smaller operating loss than predicted. Postmaster-General Luk Ping-chuen said yesterday the organisation’s finances had improved in recent months. ‘The initial situation is better than our expectations. We had expected to incur an operating cost of about $110 million for the current financial year. It will be lower under the current situation,’ he said. He said revenue had come from new services such as the PayThruPost system and savings were made reviewing staff procedures and assignments. However, Mr Luk said postage charges would still go up as planned in April. The increases were originally planned for October. Postage for next-day delivery of local letters of up to 30 grams and up to 50 grams will rise by 10 cents to $1.40 and $2.20 respectively. Letters between 100 and 250 grams will cost 20 cents more, with the new maximum charge being $4.40. Mr Luk also said the PayThruPost one-stop payment service had worked well since October when it started accepting payments for tax bills, rates and fixed-penalty tickets.