Jersey Post announces changes to its postal tariffs

Jersey Post will be amending its postal rates with effect from Tuesday 2 April 2019.

The changes will see a two pence increase on the price of sending letters to the UK, Isle of Man and other Channel Islands.

The changes to key stamp prices are summarised below:

The price changes continue to reflect several external pressures, which include declining letter volumes, the cost of handling increased parcel volumes, and changes in regulations:        

• Declining letter volumes: based on trend, letter volumes are predicted to continue to decrease by 8% in 2019. While the organisation continues targeting internal efficiencies in an effort to manage this volume decline, the net financial outlook remains negative for Postal products. 
• Parcel volumes: while increased Parcel and Large Parcel volumes are welcome, handling this profile of mail requires the continued expenditure in new systems and facilities. 
• Regulatory changes: the forecast cost increase for sending National and International mail is 5.2%, based on carrier costs and inter-operator charges.

Niall McClure, Managing Director, Post and Logistics, said: “As an organisation we continue to face a number of major external challenges; however we have worked hard to keep this year’s increases below RPI wherever possible. We remain fully committed to investing in new systems and processes in Jersey to deliver a first class and ultra-modern postal service for islanders.”

In addition, regulatory changes introduced by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) mean that as of Tuesday 2 April 2019, items of mail containing Goods and Merchandise can only be sent as Parcel and Large Parcel mail formats. Letter and Large Letter mail formats are only to be used for items of mail containing Letters, Cards and/or Documents. As a member of the UPU, Jersey Post is bound by the regulations imposed upon postal authorities and as such must abide by this recent change. Failure to declare an item as Goods or Merchandise could result in the item being held or detained by customs and surcharged.

Details of the 2019 postage price changes can be found on the Jersey Post website at www.jerseypost.com/pricing.