The price of a basic stamp is to increase by 15 per cent, from 48 cents to 55 cent. The communications regulator ComReg yesterday gave An Post permission to increase the price for sending letters up to 50g from March 1st.
This is the first increase for home postage of standard letters since August 2003, though prices for most overseas postage went up last year.
Prices for larger letters sized between 50g and 100g will fall from 60 cents to 55 cent from next month. Prices for metered and bulk main are also going up, but business customers using franking machines will get a discount of 1 cent an item. This means they will pay 54 cent for a basic letter.
An Post justified the price increase by saying it had absorbed significant cost increases including wage increases of 18.9 per cent since 2003. Prices generally have risen by 11 per cent since then.
