Martin Lewis 'stock up' warning as stamp prices set to rise significantly

Martin Lewis has issued a "last chance" warning for anyone who needs to buy postage stamps – with prices set to rise. As it stands, the price for posting a first-class letter is £1.65, but the fee will go up to £1.70.

The brains behind MoneySavingExpert.com, , said: "For years, every time stamps go up in price I've suggested people stock up and bulk-buy in advance, as provided the stamp doesn't have a price on it and instead just says the postage class, it's still valid after the rise."

Martin said that although the savings aren't massive, it's a smart move to stock up before costs mount: "So while it's not a huge saving this time, you still may as well stock up now."

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With April 7 marking the day of change, buyers will see the price of a first-class stamp rise by 5p, a 3% increase to a new high of £1.70, whilst the cost of second-class stamps will edge up by 2p, a 2.4% hike to 87p.

Attributing the inflation to rising operational costs, Royal Mail's, Nick Landon, said, "We always consider price changes very carefully but the cost of delivering mail continues to increase,".

Royal Mail's letter handling has plummeted from 20 billion letters a year to just 6.7 billion, reports

The service is also expected to see this number drop further to 4 billion in the next four years, despite expanding its coverage to an extra 4 million addresses, pushing up delivery costs.

In a blow last December, Royal Mail was slapped with a fine of over £10 million by Ofcom for not hitting delivery targets, with more than a quarter of first-class mail failing to arrive on time.

"Ofcom has recognised that reform is urgently needed to protect the one-price-goes-anywhere universal service which requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to about 32m UK addresses six days a week," said Landon.

He added: "Reform will allow continued investment in the modernisation and transformation of the business to provide a more financially sustainable service."