La Poste announces rate increases
France’s La Poste has announced that it will adjust its rates on 1 January 2019, with letter mail rates set to increase by 4.7% on average.
In a statement issued yesterday (30 July), La Poste said that the increases are a response to the “accelerated drop in letter mail volumes”.
The price of the “Lettre Verte” (non-priority letter) will increase from €0.80 to €0.88 while the priority stamp will increase from €0.95 to €1.05.
La Poste added that: “In order to promote the use of the mail channel by companies, rates for business mail will increase by 2.5% and those for direct marketing by 1.5%.”
The postal operator said that there have also been upgrades to the service.
“From now on,” said La Poste, “customers can track the distribution of all mail.
“Since 2018, private customers can affix a « tracking » sticker to all letters. This new service will enable customers to check the status of the routing and delivery of mail bearing the sticker. Its rate will remain unchanged at €0.40.”
La Poste added that – “to make international shipments easier for individuals” – it is merging the geographic zones of “Union Européenne” and “Reste du Monde” into a single one called “International”. The rate for a Lettre Internationale weighing from 0 to 20g will be €1.30.
As a whole, rates for domestic parcels sent by individuals will increase by 1.4%, which La Poste said “represented a moderate increase, comparable to the one of 2018”.
