UK Royal Mail to increase price of first-class stamps
Royal Mail put the interests of its business customers firmly ahead of personal users yesterday by increasing the cost of first-class postage in a move designed to prepare the organisation for open competition in 2006.
Adam Crozier, the chief executive, announced he would raise the price of a first-class stamp by 2p to 30p from 7 April next year, and declared that the public could no longer expect to be subsidized by business customers.
The second-class stamp will stay at 21p and prices will fall for some business services, including Mailsort and CleanMail. Mr Crozier said: “Royal Mail last year lost about 5p for every first-class stamped letter and about 9p for every second-class stamped letter. Business customers cover those costs. As more competitors chase those big customers, we need to reduce that subsidy if we are to compete on a fair and equal basis.”
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