An Post to increase stamp prices from February

An Post is increasing the price of both national and international stamps from Tuesday, 3 February

The price of a national stamp will increase by 20 cent from €1.65 to €1.85.

A new €3.50 stamp for letters to anywhere in Europe, including Britain is being introduced, an increase of 85 cent.

An Post said this hike is in line with global trends and below the European Union and UK benchmark of €2.04 for domestic next day letter service.

Meanwhile, An Post said a new Rest of World stamp priced at €3.95 is needed to stem significant losses on this category of outgoing mail due to a 38% fall in international letters over the last three years.

An Post said the increases will safeguard national delivery services and equal access to letter services nationwide despite more European postal companies stepping back letter services due to falling volumes and rising costs.

It noted that over 50% of outgoing international mail is destined for Britain, Germany and France which is why it has introduced this new Europe and Britain €3.50 rate, rather than apply the higher Rest of World rate to this category. In the UK, the equivalent European stamp costs €3.90.

An Post said that rates for large envelopes, packets, over-the-counter parcels and Registered Post will also rise, as will rates for the innovative national and international Digital stamps.

In a statement, An Post said the price increases are carefully calculated to cover the cost of providing a “world class” national letter service to every address, taking account of wage increases for postal staff in line with national pay awards, increased operating costs and letter volumes which have declined by 7% in the last 12 months and more than 50% since 2016.

A similar rate of decline is forecast for 2026.

Garrett Bridgeman, Managing Director of An Post Mails & Parcels, said An Post’s priority is to support the Irish economy and communities by providing world-class services for the people and businesses country wide.

“We work hard on the economics of the business by introducing smarter work practices and managing costs to achieve fair, cost-reflective prices below the European benchmark average, and below the UK, despite falling volumes due to e-substitution,” he said.

“Increasingly, European countries have reduced letter delivery frequency to once or twice a week and now deliver to mail boxes outside the home or to central collection points. While An Post continues to design future generation mail services to suit customers’ needs, the company is committed to retaining the option of a next-day national service to the door, by trusted, trained postal staff in a growing fleet of emission free vehicles”, he added.

He also said that An Post staff will continue to check in on customers, particularly those living alone in isolated rural areas, during spells of bad weather.

The free delivery service for all letter and parcels up to 1kg posted to residents of nursing and care homes in the State will be continued.

An Post also said that all existing stamps with “N” (National) and “W” (Worldwide) or specific euro denominations remain valid and fully useable after 3 February.