Those expensive little square sticky bits of paper.
08 Mar 2018
Dear LPG,
I learned years ago about one little money-saving tip that I would like to pass on to the LPG readership, although the relevance gets a little more lost each year as virtual communication takes over.
Fewer and fewer of us actually send letters the old fashioned way but, for those that still do, the price of the service and the way it has changed since the beginning of this century is quite an eye opener, and the budget is usually the event that is responsible for this financial catapult.
Did you know that 10 years ago in 2007 the cost of sending a first class letter in the UK was 34p, but at present the cost has crept up to 60p? I calculate that to be nearly a 75% rise in the cost during just 10 years, as opposed to 30% the decade before. I know that inflation has risen and there are less people using the royal mail to send letters, but over that time we have also lost our second mail delivery; not important for the youngsters with their emails and texts, but I am ‘old school’ and still prefer my communication tools to be ‘pen and paper’ rather than ‘keyboard and mouse’.
For all my groaning on the subject there is something that may help. Nearly every year we gasp when the budget is announced because it is then we expect to learn of the financial growth of the postage stamp. Tuesday 13 March 2018 is the day that this year’s budget is set to be announced, and who knows how much the cost of sending a letter will go up by.
I think about this, and nearly every year I forget about two things we can do to save a little money. Firstly, we need to remember that a 1st or 2nd class stamp can be used no matter how old it is, so when buying stamps make sure that if you are sending letters inland you get the stamps marked with the class rather than the actual price, and if you use a lot of stamps, it may be a good idea to stock up a little before the cost gets higher. Secondly, remember that no matter how long you have had them, a first class stamp can be used. I found some recently that I bought so long ago that you still have to actually lick the back, but they are still valid.
IJ, Deptford
As ever LPG found a little information…
