‘Eye-watering cost of stamps is relegating Christmas cards to thing of past’

They’re as much a part of the festive season as fairy lights, roast turkey and crackers. But there are fears the eye-watering cost of postage spells doom for the traditional Christmas card after 180 years. Above-inflation increases in the price of stamps over the past few years saw the price of first-class postage soar from £1.35 to a frankly staggering £1.65 in October, making them a luxury item for many.

Commercially-produced cards first appeared back in 1843 and sending them to friends and family in late November and early December has been almost compulsory for generations. But it’s unlikely to survive given that stamps have gone from eminently affordable (first class stamps cost just 3p in 1971) to frighteningly expensive ones. Frankly, it’s amazing there hasn’t been a greater backlash.

For much of the postwar era price rises were manageable for mail users. Between 1991 and 2004, the price of a first class stamp rose by just 4p, from 24p to 28p and that of a second class one by just 3p, from 18p to 21p. In percentage terms, that amounted to a 16.67% increase, all very reasonable over a 13-year period.

Now consider what’s happened in the 13 years since 2011, the year selected price controls were lifted prior to the privatisation of the Royal Mail. 

In 2011, first class stamps cost 46p and second class stamps 36p. Today, they cost £1.65 and 85p respectively. This amounts to an incredible 259% price increase for first class and a 136% increase for second class. The price increases have been particularly steep over the past three years with the cost of a first class stamp almost doubling since 2021. At this rate, we’ll be looking at these stamps costing more than £3 by 2027.

Indeed, analysis this week suggested it would be cheaper to fly to some European countries and post your cards there than buy 100 first class stamps.

When it announced the latest price increases, the Royal Mail blamed declining letter volumes and rising business costs. But as anyone sensible can see, huge price hikes as a response to losses will only deter more people from using the post.

The postal service seems to be caught in a vicious cycle of decline. Stamp prices are raised significantly above inflation to try and reduce losses, but this only means more losses as less people use the post. Unsurprisingly, the number of letters delivered has fallen from 20 billion a year in 2004/5 to just 6.7 billion in 2023/4.

The Royal Mail appears to be prioritising more profitable parcel deliveries but by making the sending of ordinary letters – and Christmas cards – so costly it is doing our society a disservice. Older people, who rely on the postal service the most, are particularly hard hit. It’s the elderly who are the least likely to have smart phones or computers and who already feel left behind in the rush towards digitalisation. They probably have the greatest emotional attachment to traditional paper cards, too.

Which makes October’s hike in the price of stamps yet another blow to Britain’s pensioners, coming not long after Sir Keir Starmer’s government announced the scrapping of the universal Winter Fuel Payment. 

A reduction in the number of Christmas cards sent would also be a major blow for charities, who traditionally make a tidy sum each year from the sale of festive cards – an estimated £50million every year. Inevitably, the less cards sent, the less money these causes will receive.

Yet, given today’s high cost of stamps, who can blame people from cutting back on sending cards (which have also seen inflation-busting price rises in many cases), or not sending them altogether.

My elderly parents used to have a long Christmas card list which included not only family and friends but also people they met on various holidays going back to the 1960s. But over the last decade, it was pruned down as stamp prices kept going up. My own list has been the same, and probably yours too as the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation bites at our disposable income.

A poll last year showed that almost a third of us intended to send fewer cards because of the cost. Which is all rather sad because Christmas without sending and receiving cards wouldn’t really be Christmas, would it?

It’s time more pressure – both political and public – is brought to bear on the Royal Mail to change course and stop these big hikes in stamp prices. To keep the postal service going we need more people using it, not less but making stamps so expensive only does the opposite.