First Class postage to rise to 60p from 30/4

[#1]

Stamp prices: First-class stamps to cost 60

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A first-class stamp will rise in price from 46p to 60p from 30 April after the regulator removed price controls on Royal Mail. A second-class stamp will go up from 36p to 50p - some 5p below the top price allowed by Ofcom.

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Royal Mail said that the cost of posting Christmas cards in 2012 will be the same as last year for consumers on pension credit and employment and support allowance or incapacity benefit.

Just over a month to stock up on 1st class stamps!

[#2]

If only a first class service was included

[#3]

If memory serves me correctly I think 1st class was just 3p with 2nd class 2p back in 1979.
So a 20-fold rise in a little over 30 years. Has anything else risen so dramatically over a similar period of time? I think I litre of petrol was just under 30p.
Edit: Memory not so good on this one as according to here 1st class was 10p and 2nd class was 8p.
So a six-fold rise - about the same as petrol, then.

[#4]

I rarely send things by post these days.  When I do I try and use 2nd class and it doesn't seem to cause a problem.

[#5]

It's just going to accelerate the downward spiral of Royal Mail usage, I'm afraid. 
We recently had our daily delivery "reconfigured" to reflect the "changing pattern of personal communications"  - my morning post is now the afternoon post, and varies between 1230 and 1545!

[#6]

Why do I think that the headline misses the point
Stamp      Actual      Percentage
Type          Increase    Increase
First          14p              30.4%
Second      14p              38.9%
A better headline would be -
2nd Class stamp price to increase by nearly 40%

[#7]

I had to post a small parcel yesterday - £2.49 2nd class signed for.
Someone else has sent me something today (a book) and paid £7  I nearly fell off my chair with shock (I didn't even buy it, he sent it to me as a freebie as a favour). Generous of my friend but thats £ he could of put towards his little boy if RM hadn't been such a financial con.
I remember before privatisation a 2nd class stamp was 19p and first class was 25p. Now we're talking 60p? 

[#8]

The penny black only cost 1d. 

[#9]

...and it was black

[#10]

Quote from: A

The penny black only cost 1d.

As did the penny Red

[#11]

As did penny bangers....but a mate still asked me the question many years ago

[#12]

All those are penny dreadfuls. 

[#13]

It may be worth bearing in mind that a 1d postage stamp in 1839 was a much greater percentage of the average pay then the 50/60p will be to the current average pay.

[#14]

According to Ofcom the average household spends 50p a week on postage.  This obviously varies through the year but isn't a large amount.

[#15]

I posted my first letter of this year yesterday.