Royal Mail 1st January 2021 Price Increases

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Royal Mail 1st January 2021 price increases were announced this week with an 9p increase for a 1st Class stamp and an additional 1p for a 2nd class stamp.

That’s more than enough to upset Citizens Advice who assert that older generations still reply on the post for communications (I checked with my mum, she writes about 2 letters or cards a week plus about 100 Christmas cards and so at 9p extra per stamp an increase of around £20 a year is not an insignificant price increase when you’re on a pension).

Royal Mail’s Chief Commercial Officer has tried to pin the blame for the Royal Mail 1st January 2021 price increases on the Coronavirus pandemic and the cost of maintaining the Universal service, which delivers 6 days a week for a flat price to every house in the UK.

“Like other companies, 2020 has been a challenging year for Royal Mail. Our people have worked tirelessly to keep the UK connected throughout the pandemic and associated restrictions. These price increases will help us continue to deliver and sustain the Universal Service in challenging circumstances.”
– Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Mail

What’s of more interest for marketplace merchants is what’s happening to parcel prices. Below are the tables setting out prices you’ll pay if you lick stamps or pay at the Post Office. The cost for large letters and small parcels is going up anywhere between 8p and 35p depending on weight and format. It’s worth noting that Royal Mail’s split is now around 60% parcels and only 40% letters.

Special Delivery by 1pm prices are going up about 15p depending on weight. Royal Mail Signed For is rising by 19p for 100g letter.

One thing you should definitely consider if you’re buying stamps is paying for your postage online with Click and Drop. Not only are prices cheaper online than at the Post Office, but there are also additional services available such as Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48. Also, a little bit of good news, Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 prices haven’t risen and Royal Mail Tracked with Age Verification has been introduced.

Domestic Parcelforce prices don’t appear to have changed for 2021, but for goodness sake never ever buy these services at the Post Office. You’ll find flat rate prices for parcels up to 30kg at senditnow.com, ranging from as little as £11.34 for a two day service dropped at the Post Office up to £13.54 for a next day service collected from your home or office.

If you are a Business account customer, you’ll find similar price rises for Barcoded Letters and Large Letters, Non-barcoded Letters and Large Letters and Parcels. Full rates for business customers can be found here.

Royal Mail 1st January 2021 price increases – Stamps

2020 Royal Mail Prices – 1st Class

Size

Weight up to and including

2020 Price

2021 Price

Increase

Letter 100g 76p 85p 9p
Large Letter 100g £1.15 £1.29 14p
250g £1.64 £1.83 19p
500g £2.14 £2.39 25p
750g £2.95 £3.30 35p
Small Parcel 1kg £3.70 £3.85 15p
2kg £5.57 £5.57 =
Medium Parcel 1kg £5.90 £6.00 10p
2kg £9.02 £9.02 =
5kg £15.85 £15.85 =
10kg £21.90 £21.90 =
20kg £33.40 £33.40 =

 

2020 Royal Mail Prices – 2nd Class

Size

Weight up to and including

2020 Price

2021 Price

Increase

Letter 100g 65p 66p 1p
Large Letter 100g 88p 96p 8p
250g £1.40 £1.53 13p
500g £1.83 £1.99 16p
750g £2.48 £2.70 22p
Small Parcel 1kg £3.10 £3.20 10p
2kg £3.10 £3.20 10p
Medium Parcel 1kg £5.20 £5.30 10p
2kg £5.20 £5.30 10p
5kg £8.79 £8.99 20p
10kg £20.25 £20.25 =
20kg £28.55 £28.55 =

Full rates for Royal Mail stamp prices from January 2021 can be found here.

Royal Mail 1st January 2021 price increases – Online

2020 Royal Mail Online Prices – 1st Class

Size

Weight up to and including

2020 Price

2021 Price

Increase

Letter 100g 76p 85p 9p
Large Letter 100g £1.15 £1.29 14p
250g £1.64 £1.83 19p
500g £2.14 £2.39 25p
750g £2.95 £3.30 35p
Small Parcel 1kg £3.58 £3.68 10p
2kg £5.47 £5.47 =
Medium Parcel 1kg £5.78 £5.83 10p
2kg £8.92 £8.92 =
5kg £15.85 £15.85 =
10kg £21.90 £21.90 =
20kg £33.40 £33.40 =

 

2020 Royal Mail Online Prices – 2nd Class

Size

Weight up to and including

2020 Price

2021 Price

Increase

Letter 100g 65p 66p 1p
Large Letter 100g 88p 96p 8p
250g £1.40 £1.53 13p
500g £1.83 £1.99 16p
750g £2.48 £2.70 22p
Small Parcel 1kg £2.95 £3.00 5p
2kg £2.95 £3.00 5p
Medium Parcel 1kg £5.05 £5.10 5p
2kg £5.05 £5.10 5p
5kg £8.79 £8.79 =
10kg £20.25 £20.25 =
20kg £28.55 £28.55 =

Full rates for Royal Mail online prices from January 2021 can be found here.

40 Responses

  1. I take these prices on Page 7 exclude VAT ? And do they still charge a 3% full tax on top of this price?

  2. 1st and 2nd are non-vat services (I think). Best to check with your account manager on the exact prices for the services you use for your account. They’ll be able to confirm any fuel surcharges etc.

  3. That’s me done with Royal Mail. We will have collections until Xmas and then move everything over to Hermes in the New Year. They are quicker, cheaper, better scanning, covered by insurance and tracking along the way.

  4. Yeah delightful. Someone’s gotta pay for storage for that massively delayed LLs/parcels. Think of it, you post to customer, RM cannot process the high demand, customer still waits, you become frustrated along with customer, RM finally delivers. The LIFO model means some items sit forever in MC’s and perhaps they needed to invest in some properties. Just kidding, RM can only invest in shiny rented vans when their stock vans go bonkers.

  5. Constant increase in prices it is several times a year now.
    Brexit was getting blame long before we ever had Brexit.
    Now it will be Covid.
    Would not be so bad but the service is shocking. Late delivery all the time, missing, unscanned.
    Phoned the biz helpline the other day and the support was diablolocal the women was just such a jobsworth and a rude one at that.
    So disappointed not just from a customer point of view but I invested several thousands in this lot and it has turned out to be one of the worst business decisions ever made.

  6. I find their service to be fantastic! I’m really appreciative of the honest and reliable service that I receive. Some countries no longer have a mail service and have to rely upon expensive courier services.

  7. So happy that I’m not selling on eBay anymore! 🙂 These RM price increases could literally make or break an eBay business selling something very cheap, with low margins.

  8. So that will be FOUR price rises in 12 months, presuming they go up again in March.

    Check out the international changes to airmail.

    Europe is now the same price as rest of the world.

    Presumably they are trying to pin that on Brexit.

    RM needs to go back into public ownership.

  9. We will have to put prices up or go 2nd class with 1st as an option.

    There is no alternative for 100g packets.

  10. Europe NOT now same as ‘rest of world’ as you state.
    Modest price rises for Europe in line with UK price rises.
    Read the full charts properly before baseless scaremongering.

  11. Looks like my Hermes “postable” rate of £1.96 is now going to be cheaper than Royal Mail for anything over 250g…

    Packlink also doing 50% off as well until the new year so even more business moved over…

  12. Re. timo case,

    Europe letter rates HAVE risen to the same as the rest of the world.

    They are all now £1.70

    So, why don’t YOU read Royal Mail’s charts?

    These rises are NOT modest for businesses sending smaller items.

  13. I don’t sell full time any more but the hikes seem disproportionate at RM.

    Half the time tracking never works, unnecessarily worrying buyers.

    I used to be a big fan but these prices aren’t sustainable for any business.

    Amazon was clever preempting this with Amz Logistics.

    Luckily Hermes keep improving and have actually been good when something went missing last time. It doesn’t happen so often anymore either.

    Another plus is most clothes retailers use Hermes so the customer (if a big online shopper/family) is likely get multiple orders delivered at once all with very good email tracking with a window.

  14. HOW ABOUT DELIVERING THIS EXPENSIVE MAIL!!!! I FORGOT IT IS PANDEMIC SO NO DELIVERY IN E15 FOR PAST 4-5 WEEKS, I CAN COUNT ON FINGERS OF ONE HAND HOW MANY TIMES A POSTMAN VISITED !!!!!!
    WE HAVE TO MAKE WEEKLY VISITS TO SORTING OFFICE, WHICH IS NOT EXACTLY ROUND THE CORNER, WAITING THERE IN HUGE QUEUE.
    AND MAIL AND PACKAGES LOST, NOT A SURPRISE.
    NOW 2021 PRICE INCREASE !!!!!?????? joke !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    ARE YOU SORRY RM PO ?????

  15. Can I suggest you advise your mother to send her Christmas cards by second class post, then the total extra cost will be little more than £1.

  16. article on BBC news today about royal mail late delivery etc
    basically royal mail are once again shocked and surprised by Christmas happening again

  17. Since E.Bay charge sellers a fee of 10% based on Postal Costs any increase in Royal Mail pricing automatically gives an increase to E.Bay coffers, at a further expense to the seller. Well I expect it will get passed on to the customer as the most vulnerable and least able to do much about it.

  18. I post a lot of ebay 2nd class large under 100g letters. I believe that if no price on the stamp you can use them after price rises so stock up now.

  19. I never send anything 1st class except when absolutely necessary.

    A second class service anyway especially since we lost the 2nd post years ago, start of a decline.

    Will only send 2nd class especially in December.

  20. Royal Mail should be lowering their prices and scraping 1st and 2nd class altogether and they should just start calling it all 3rd class, to reflect exactly what it is.

    They have been utterly diabolical this year.

    How they can justify these price increases is beyond my comprehension.

  21. I wouldn’t recommend any RM services, especially 2nd class, 10 weeks for a letter to Manchester had to refund customer. Received a second class letter from Land Rover recently to accept free LR experience day, the letter arrived two weeks after the closing date, god knows when that sent. I sell on eBay and I can safely say I will NOT be using RM ever again.

  22. I would not mind paying more if the service improved with every price increase. This year its got worse. RM learned nothing from the debacle with delays at Easter. They seem shocked that they are busy when they have been carrying out a nationwide TV advertising campaign advising everyone to post and use their services. They also seem surprised that they are busy at Christmas. It comes at the same time every year so they must have plans. With covid they have been busy all year really and still they cannot deliver parcels and letters on time. None of the couriers are having such long delays and RM want to move to parcel deliveries. They must be running out of excuses and sympathy now.

  23. @steve

    You say you dont mind not paying extra but try and tell customers they actually have to pay for postage and watch your buyers go else where.

  24. @Derek
    My customers DO pay the postage. All orders are costed by weight so if they order more, they pay more. If I had to add in the cost of the postage into the price of the product and then give postage included (free) people would never buy the products.

  25. The Royal Mail as far as I am concerned is an excellent service. It would surely
    be more costly to employ an individual company to deliver a letter than the 85
    pence to be charged by Royal Mail next year.

  26. Prices go up service goes down same old same old
    They have to pay for all the court fees over the last
    few years.

  27. Prices go up service goes down same old same old
    They have to pay for all the court fees over the last
    few years.

  28. G mail or a multitude of others ,will deliver a “letter near instantly world wide for a fraction of a penny?

  29. @steve

    So what are you moaning about….Parcels and Letters cost money to be delivered….posties dont work for free….Get over it.
    If you dont like there service go else where or better still deliver it yourself

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