La Poste puts up French stamp prices from October
La Poste, the French national postal operator, has announced a stamp price rise of one euro cent for standard domestic letters with effect from October 1, 2006. It is also increasing corporate rates but offering more discounts for large volumes.
The price rise means that French consumers will be paying euro0.54 for a standard letter weighing up to 20 grams. La Poste said that the new domestic price was “the exact average” of European postal rates for domestic letters yet it had to provide a wider universal service than its European competitors with higher collection and distribution costs due to the size and low population density of France. The increase would have a minimal impact on French household costs with less than euro2 per year.
Rates to EU states and Switzerland for letters up to 20 grams will be increased from euro0.55 to euro0.60. This would still be amongst the lowest such rate in Europe where the average was euro0.73, La Poste noted. The increases were due to rising transportation costs, particularly fuel costs and security costs for the x-raying of international mail, the post office said.
Postal rates for French businesses will rise in two stages. From October 1, smaller customers will pay higher prices but also be able to take advantage of a new volume-based offer with preferential tariffs. At the start of 2007, business with large mail volumes will face a 2.6% rise in prices. La Poste said that this was the first price hike since January 2003 and was well below the 6.5% increase in general prices since then.
La Poste said that the objective of the revised prices was to secure the financing of the universal postal service in France, to fund its euro3.4 billion postal modernisation programme (running 2004-2010), and to compensate for higher fuel costs. The increases were within the 2.1% average annual increase range set by the French postal regulator ARCEP in June 2005, it added.
