Jersey Post announces changes to its postal tariffs

Jersey Post postponed its price review from Thursday 26th March 2020 to Thursday 1st October 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As of Thursday 1st October, the new postal rates will come into effect. The changes will see a two-pence increase on the price of sending letters locally and a three-pence increase on 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 changes in parcel weights and sizes and changes in regulations:

Declining letter volumes: for the first month of 2020, local letter volumes were 11% down on last year, outbound UK letter volumes were down 29% and outbound international letter volumes were down 15%.

Parcel volumes: local and outbound Parcel volumes have shown marginal growth in recent years but continuing changes to weights and sizes adds to handling costs.

While the organisation continues targeting internal efficiencies in an effort to manage these factors, the net financial outlook remains negative for Postal products.

Regulatory changes: the forecast cost increase to Jersey Post for sending National mail is 5% and International mail 9.3%, 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. The Jersey Post price for a first class local letter is increasing by 2p to 54p. This compares to a Royal Mail first class stamp which is increasing by 6p to 76p. 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.”

Details of the 2020 postage price changes can be found on the Jersey Post website at www.jerseypost.com/pricing.