Up goes the price of second class postage, again.

The cost of postage is set to increase again on 7th April 2025, as Royal Mail have announced yet another round of price rises.

Not content with the cost of a first class letter being almost prohibitive at £1.65, it will be increasing the cost to £1.70. Fortunately, second class postage, as it is regulated, is only rising 2p from 85p to 87p.

The latest rises will simply exacerbate the issue of declining mail volumes, as the more the price is raised, the less people use the post. Online services are now starting to proliferate and most major institutions now nudge their customers to dealing with them online, meaning no more paper bills in the post.

The rises, whilst expected, come as another blow to those who regularly use the postal system as currently second class post can take between two and ten days to be delivered, even when the recipient is a few miles away. First class post is often delayed and Royal Mail are regularly being fined for missing their standard delivery targets.

To deal with this, Royal Mail are looking to vary the conditions of the Universal Service Obligation and drop at least one of their deliveries. Whilst this is meeting with residence amongst consumer groups, it would simply be an official recognition of what has already become ‘de facto’ standard practice. Many homes simply don’t receive mail on certain days of the week and some, just on one or two specific days.

At 87p, second class post still represents good value, given the cost of running a nation-wide postal system, but further rises will make the service even less appealing and the end result could well be the same as Denmark, who will officially cease all mail services in the country at the end of 2025.

So, price rise or no, use it or lose it is the message for all fans of second class stamps!