Royal Mail to raise stamp prices – March 2014

The price of a first-class stamp is to increase by 2p to 62p while a second-class stamp will go up 3p to 53p, Royal Mail has announced.

Also from 31 March, a large letter first-class stamp up to 100g will rise by 3p to 93p and a large letter second-class stamp will increase by 4p to 73p.

Despite the increases, Royal Mail insisted its prices were “amongst the best value for money in Europe”.

Two years ago the cost of a first-class stamp jumped from 46p to 60p.

Royal Mail said that under the current regulatory framework, it could have increased second-class stamps by 7p, instead of the 3p it chose to.

It said its “high quality, six-day-a-week, one-price-goes-anywhere universal service” costs more than £7bn a year to run.

The average across Germany, France, Spain and Italy for first-class letters is 67p and 60p for second class, Royal Mail said.