The Accelerating Rise In Stamp Prices

On April 7, 2025, the price of a First Class stamp for a standard letter in the UK will increase to £1.70. And we might wonder how that stacks up against the cost of mail in previous decades. Here’s a chronological list of First Class stamp prices since the year 2000:

Chronology Of Prices Of First Class Stamps

Year	Price
2000	£0.27
2001	£0.27
2002	£0.27
2003	£0.28
2004	£0.28
2005	£0.30
2006	£0.32
2007	£0.34
2008	£0.36
2009	£0.39
2010	£0.41
2011	£0.46
2012	£0.60
2013	£0.60
2014	£0.62
2015	£0.63
2016	£0.64
2017	£0.65
2018	£0.67
2019	£0.70
2020	£0.76
2021	£0.85
2022	£0.95
April 2023	£1.10
October 2023	£1.25
April 2024	£1.35
October 2024	£1.65
April 2025	£1.70

A first class stamp has increased from 27p in the year 2000 to £1.70 starting on the 7th of April this year. And you might naturally wonder whether this price increase is simply down to inflation.

We can answer that using the Bank Of England’s inflation calculator. Applying this inflation rate, 27p in 2000 would be equivalent to 58p today.

Let’s look at a couple more examples.

The price of a first class stamp in 2020 was 76p. Using the Bank Of England’s inflation calculator, 76p in 2020 would be equivalent to 95p today.

The price of a first class stamp in 2022 was 95p. Using the Bank Of England’s inflation calculator, 95p in 2022 would be equivalent to 1.06p today.

So the price rises have accelerated to the point in 2025 when some people would have to think twice whether they are able to comfortably pay £1.70 to send a letter, or a birthday card.

What justifies that for a public service?

Ah well, comes the reply, your target person with not much money in their pocket can send their birthday card by second class mail.

Here’s a chronological list of Second Class stamp prices since the year 2000:

Chronology Of Prices Of Second Class Stamps

Year	Price
2000	£0.19
2001	£0.19
2002	£0.19
2003	£0.20
2004	£0.21
2005	£0.21
2006	£0.23
2007	£0.24
2008	£0.27
2009	£0.30
2010	£0.32
2011	£0.36
2012	£0.50
2013	£0.50
2014	£0.53
2015	£0.54
2016	£0.55
2017	£0.56
2018	£0.58
2019	£0.61
2020	£0.65
2021	£0.66
2022	£0.68
April 2023	£0.75
October 2023	£0.75
April 2024	£0.85
October 2024	£0.85
April 2025	£0.87

And we can see that the rate of increase of a second class stamp has been more modest. If you haven’t got much spare cash, send your birthday card early and send them second class.

The Average Annual Rate Of Return

Every time stamps go up you should think about stocking up because as long as the stamp doesn’t have a price on it and instead just says First Class or Second Class then you can use it after prices go up.

It’s only a 5p saving between now and April but imagine you had bought 100 stamps in 2022 at 95p each and kept them to use now. They would have cost you £95 and to replace them in April would cost you £170.

We can work out the compound annual growth rate and the annual rate of return on that money. And it is 21%. Now you tell me how it is fair that for a public service Royal Mail is making that kind of return off its customers?