Stamps....

[Alex L]

...are going up drastically in preparation for the Royal Mail sell off. No problem getting it past ofcom.

[Alex L]

Thanks, I'll go for the first option, stockpiling now to defer passing on the price increases !wink!

[Arginald Valleywater]

Still cheap compared to other countries postal services....

[Gusset Sniffer]

Tell that to the Old age pensioners who don't have e-mail and the small business who are about to lose customers. Why does it have to be such a large increase so soon?

[David Johnson]

Arginald,
I dont think your statement is true about first class stamps at all when they go up to 60p. Especially given that price controls on first class stamps have now been removed.

Gusset Sniffer
"Why does it have to be such a large increase so soon?"

This is the classic example of aggressive capitalism in action which we will get oodles of in the next few years as the Tory led coalition tries to sell off everything that Thatcher never got around to.

1st step of extreme capitalism.

Nationalise the losses of the company that you are going to flog off. We, the taxpayer, own Royal Mail - assets and liabilities. A few weeks ago the government announced that they were nationalising the pension fund of the Royal Mail. To an aggressive capitalist this has two advantages: taking the Royal Mail final-salary retirement scheme on to the government's books will add ?28bn of pension assets to the exchequer and will provide a short term boost to government finances; sadly, the Royal Mail pension scheme has liabilities of ?37bn, leaving a ?9bn shortfall in the fund that taxpayers will be forced to pay over the next 30 years.

But hey, never mind, it will make the Royal Mail easier to privatise!!!

2nd step of aggressive capitalism .

Pass an act which allows you to flog off the assets while stiffing the taxpayer with the liabilities. This happened last year and now 90% of the Post Office can be sold off. According to the Chief Exec this is likely to happen in 2014.

In order to flog it off to the City boys, ya got to remove price controls on things like the first class stamp which the regulators have now done. So from now on, any prospective buyer of the Royal Mail will be able to charge whatever they like for first class mail. ANd bumping up the price now is a good sweetener to prospective buyers. As for pensioners they can go fuck off and use second class mail.

And obviously, the Royal Mail will get offered at an "attractive" price, ridiculously low to you and me, to make sure it is an offer that aggressive capitalism cannot turn down.

Fan bloody tastic!

[sparky]

I thought the role of regulator was to protect the interests of the consumer not the organisation ...... !rant!

Assuming the almost inevitable privatisation happens the prices in 5 years time will sadly make the new 2012 charges look a bargain.

The pensioners Christmas Bonus that is still the same ?10 as when introduced in 1972 will buy just 20 second class stamps this year.

[spider]

"I thought the role of regulator was to protect the interests of the consumer not the organisation"

Oh dear, oh dear.

Do you still believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy as well?

"Assuming the almost inevitable privatisation happens the prices in 5 years time".

The timetable for privatisation is Early 2012, this was also announced yesterday.

The Tories want it sold off before the next election in 2015 so there is no going back.

Just like Major's rush to privatise British Rail before the 1997 election.

[steve56]

Buying a book is cheaper

[spider]

The timetable for privatisation is Early 2012, this was also announced yesterday.

Sorry I meant to say Early 2014.