Huge Royal Mail stamp price increase adds to cost of living crisis with overnight price hike

Stamp prices have increased overnight by a stonking 10p, meaning that the cost of First Class postage stamps is now 95p. Consumers have expressed shock and dismay over the hike, which was implemented today.

As many across the UK worry how to save on energy bills during the energy crisis, news of another everyday item becoming more expensive is a bitter pill to swallow.

Second-class stamps have also increased by 2p to 68p, and Royal Mail claims the price hikes are owing to them having to deliver to more addresses, which they say has added to their costs.

These rising costs run parallel with the privately-owned company's huge profit spike in the last year. In fact, Royal Mail's annual profits quadrupled, per BBC News, to £726M in the year up to 28 March. This is a gargantuan growth from the £180M profit from a year earlier. Not so shockingly, some British consumers are crying foul.

One Twitter user said, "Honestly just sick to death with corporate greed at this stage. This is why you don’t privatize core public services folks. For small online businesses, this is a massive cost increase over the course of a year."

The chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, Nick Landon acknowledged the difficulties faced by many at the moment, in a statement shared a month before the price change.

He said, "We understand that many companies and households are finding it hard in the current economic environment, and we will always keep our prices as affordable as possible."

Nick added, “These price changes are necessary to ensure we can continue to maintain and invest in the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service for future generations.”

Sharon Graham is the general secretary of Britain and Ireland's biggest Union, Unite. Addressing the changing costs, the BBC reports that she accused Royal Mail's boardroom of, "again raising prices while helping itself to massive profits."

She added, "It is behaving like a short-term greedy speculator rather than the responsible owner of a key UK public service."