Believe it or not, there still are forms of communication done by post instead of e-mail. Left Foot Forward carries a graphic showing the increase in price for first and second class stamps since 2000, and the impending rises of 14 pence to 60 and 50 pence respectively as of 30 April.
This has led to bulk-buying at outlets, many of which has run short. In response, the Royal Mail has introduced quotas which amount to 20% in the month of April of an outlet’s annual allocation. The shadow postal affairs minister, Ian Murray has written to Ofcom to ask if this breaches anti-profiteering legislation.
Although commercial customers are able to claim a discount if their traffic is above a defined level, most small businesses cannot. This includes Callum Miller who runs a car business in Stockton-on-Tees and, according to the Daily Mail has bought 800 stamps, saving £112 on projected prices.
I have less sympathy for Michael Crick, political editor of Channel4 News who declared on Twitter that he had bought one thousand stamps, and would buy upwards of 10,000 if he could for an “investment”. Subsequent tweets stated that he was not seeking to sell them on, thus profiteering as the Royal Mail seems to be.
Either way, any private individual who is able to buy £400 worth of stamps on a whim, and ponder spending much more, is unlikely to be as affected by price rises as those, like myself, whose ‘bulk-buying’ will be limited to a couple of dozen. If we can afford it this month.
Furthermore, for those of us in rural areas also where even local organizations might be at the other end of a lengthy bus journey, this will be yet another punitive and/or inconsistent expense on using postal services.
