theguardian_business

Blow to NHS as Royal Mail raises prices for bulk users by a third

📰 source: theguardian_business · 💼 business

royal mail is raising wholesale postal prices by an average of 25% from 5 october, with some services going up by as much as 36%. the nhs, which spent at least £100m on post in 2024, will face several million pounds in extra costs. other bulk users like banks, hmrc, and large mail producers are also affected.

the price hikes come as letter volumes keep falling — from 6.3bn items in 2019-20 to 4.2bn now — while royal mail must deliver to a growing 32m addresses. the company lost £800m over the last four years and is under investigation by ofcom for missing delivery targets, including fines of £37m since 2023. a 36.1% increase applies to the economy service (non-urgent, five-day delivery), while standard advertising mail for large letters rises 11.4%.

why it matters: nhs and other bulk mail users face major cost increases as postal service struggles with declining letter volumes and missed targets.

source: theguardian_business
sentiment: -0.40 · impact: 0.30

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Surprise fall in US jobs last month as slow summer continues

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