Businesses have accused Royal Mail of “adding insult to injury” after it revealed the cost of sending some packages will rocket by 70%, just a week after a 40% hike in stamps.
The move, which is likely to affect online retailers, sees the company scrap the incremental charges on packages weighing up to 750g, to charge a standard flat rate of £2.70 for packages up to that weight.
The cost for a first class package weighing up to 100g is currently £1.58; this will rise by £1.12 – an increase of 70%.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Our prices for packets need to reflect the cost of handling and delivering them. Over the last four years Royal Mail has made a loss in its core mails business, including packets, of almost £1bn.”
But Forum of Private Business chief executive Phil Orford blasted: “With the ink barely even dry on last week’s agreement with Ofcom, which saw prices leap by as much as 39%, and here we go again.
“This latest hike hardly seems fair or proportionate either. The smallest parcel now charged the same as a much larger one. It just won’t make sense to users, and customers will no doubt feel this is just adding insult to injury so soon after last week’s bombshell.
“At a time when the cost of doing business is increasing for small firms this is simply not on.”
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