The price of a stamp to hit 100 cents

Harry Palmr

10 years ago it was 41 cents, and the current price is 72c.

Makes one wonder really, first that An Post have been negligent in allowing such a company costs gap to arise that they feel the need to jack up the cost by 40% in one go and that the business of collecting, processing and delivering very light and small packages without making a loss is apparently beyond the companies ability.

There are surely more packages of all types in transit in to, out of and within Ireland than ever and yet An Post seems not to have the wit to grab enough of the market to keep the red ink at bay.

What are they doing wrong? Is it a company that is still structured for life before the internet and home shopping, didn't they ever do a business plan based on global and local trends?

Or it is hamstrung like other state companies by having to commit to universal coverage regardless of the cost? I can imagine there are quite a few rural routes where the postie has but a handful of drops a day but is paid 30k a year plus the expenses of running a vehicle.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

I think you mean one euro.

Richard Hillman

Absolutely obscene. This will affect a lot of businesses.

snowflaker

1€ for a stamp in Ireland???

Excessive! Yer man on RTÉ talking tripe. Lets close rural Ireland ...

jameorahiely

It has been this price in a number of other European countries for years now

Stop being so scabby, we're all European's now

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

It's still a penny stamp to me.

€1 seems to be the European average .

snowflaker

jameorahiely wrote: »

It has been this price in a number of other European countries for years now

Stop being so scabby, we're all European's now

88c for me to send a card from Germany to Ireland

testaccount123

A euro to have something delivered anywhere in the state the next day doesnt seem like very much.

How much would it cost with DHL or DPD?

the_pen_turner

Way to expensive.
They would be better off doing the route every second day instead of everyday. I doubt the majority would notice. If laid out right I'm sure you could still do daily to the companies that need it

snowflaker

http://www.datagraver.com/case/price-sending-a-domestic-letter-in-different-european-countries-2002-2015

Rothmans

snowflaker wrote: »

88c for me to send a card from Germany to Ireland

Presumably because An Post are under charging.

LeinsterDub

Who actually posts stuff anymore?

76544567

End of posting Christmas cards in our house now.

snowflaker

Rothmans wrote: »

Presumably because An Post are under charging.

??? It was Deuche Post

Stars and Stripes

Looks like the FG/FF/LP agenda of ruining public run companies so that the ' market ' is then taken over and dictated to by their crony's like Denis O'Brien etc continues regardless. The Irish Postmasters’ Union warned that increasing the price of stamps would reduce the volume of business and threaten the postal service. “The network is in grave danger that it will disappear,” Ned O’Hara said on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke. “We are a key resource for urban and rural communities. We want to do more for communities.”

Doubt if they'll be listened to unless communities, particularly rural ones, make to known to gombeen FF/FG TD's, councilors they'll suffer at the voting booth for actions like this.

LeinsterDub

Stars and Stripes wrote: »

Looks like the FG/FF/LP agenda of ruining public run companies so that the ' market

That or you know email but it's probably the top secret plan to ruin public companies

HONKEY TONK

I dont see a problem with the price rise

Del.Monte

HONKEY TONK wrote: »

I dont see a problem with the price rise

I agree, let's have 40% added to the price of everything. :rolleyes:

ToddyDoody

You know you can steam stamps off letters, right?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I wish my pay went from 41K to 100K in 10 years...

Harry Palmr

ToddyDoody wrote: »

You know you can steam stamps off letters, right?

You may have spotted that black inky thing call a frank....

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Who actually posts stuff anymore?

Yeah sports direct should email me those adidas I just bought and save themselves some money.

SCOOP 64

testaccount123 wrote: »

A euro to have something delivered anywhere in the state the next day doesnt seem like very much.

How much would it cost with DHL or DPD?

Thats a envelope for a euro isn't it , A parcel would be more from post office,as this is what DPD/DHl deal mostly with, but surely another nail in the coffin for the post office, people will just stop posting, there again cant remember last time i posted a letter, only xmas.

Mrs OBumble

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Absolutely obscene. This will affect a lot of businesses.

Like who? What businesses still post letters any more???

questionmark?

Hunky Monster wrote: »

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Who actually posts stuff anymore?

Yeah sports direct should email me those adidas I just bought and save themselves some money.

It's amazing that those Adidas fitted into an envelope and got delivered for the price of a letter!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Del.Monte wrote: »

I agree, let's have 40% added to the price of everything. :rolleyes:

That's far from what the comment implied. Ever hear of elasticity of demand?

Richard Hillman

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Like who? What businesses still post letters any more???

In my old job I would post out about 10-20 letters a week. That was just me, the rest of the department would send a similar amount. People still need to use the post.

LeinsterDub

Richard Hillman wrote: »

In my old job I would post out about 10-20 letters a week. That was just me, the rest of the department would send a similar amount. People still need to use the post.

And as such they can pay the rate required to keep a dying service alive

Tow

1 euro to send a letter across Dublin... It is possible to buy new rubber bands delivered from China for less than a euro.

Sounds like the number of employees in the rubber room has risen to an unsupportable level again.

Del.Monte

Obviously the internet/digital revolution has had a massive impact on An Post's business, but much of the company's problems stem from poor management decisions and waste which is par for the course with anything in the State sector. Everybody's business is nobody's business.

my3cents

Tow wrote: »

1 euro to send a letter across Dublin... It is possible to buy new rubber bands delivered from China for less than a euro.

Sounds like the number of employees in the rubber room has risen to an unsupportable level again.

Under some trade agreement I don't think China pay An Post anything for delivering which is why so much China post gets left sitting around waiting and waiting to get sorted.

If An Post wanted to make money they'd do a deal with Amazon and other big online companies but Amazon don't use them directly because An Post are too expensive.

hungry hypno toad

jameorahiely wrote: »

It has been this price in a number of other European countries for years now

Stop being so scabby, we're all European's now

Take that back, I'll never be a 'European' even if I was born and bred in Ireland.

pickarooney

Harry Palmr wrote: »

You may have spotted that black inky thing call a frank....

Oi, pass the sauce, 'Arry!

SPDUB

Harry Palmr wrote: »

10 years ago it was 41 cents, and the current price is 72c.

It was 15 years ago that it was 41c , 10 years ago it was 48c

Makes one wonder really, first that An Post have been negligent in allowing such a company costs gap to arise that they feel the need to jack up the cost by 40% in one go

They weren't allowed to increase their prices , it had to be approved by Comreg , a fairly long process , which was why legislation was needed to bypass the price cap in place

There are surely more packages of all types in transit in to, out of and within Ireland than ever and yet An Post seems not to have the wit to grab enough of the market to keep the red ink at bay.

They actually have captured a fair share of the market but it not enough to make up for the loss of letters

What are they doing wrong? Is it a company that is still structured for life before the internet and home shopping, didn't they ever do a business plan based on global and local trends?

The delivery routes have been restructured and expanded in every delivery office at least twice and in a fair number of offices 3 times in the last 10 years .

Or it is hamstrung like other state companies by having to commit to universal coverage regardless of the cost? I can imagine there are quite a few rural routes where the postie has but a handful of drops a day but is paid 30k a year plus the expenses of running a vehicle.

Comreg has insisted on door to door delivery every day on every route even if that means driving down a mile long boreen to deliver one letter

Originally Posted by my3cents

If An Post wanted to make money they'd do a deal with Amazon and other big online companies but Amazon don't use them directly because An Post are too expensive.

There is actually a deal in place for some items from Amazon

my3cents

SPDUB wrote: »

There is actually a deal in place for some items from Amazon

I think there might have been but not now, I get stuff, rarely Royal Mail and mostly Ascendia and iParcel. Royal Mail and Ascendia use An Post but there is no direct deal with Amazon, which is what is needed.

Dr_Colossus

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I can imagine there are quite a few rural routes where the postie has but a handful of drops a day but is paid 30k a year plus the expenses of running a vehicle.

The problem is the €10m a week wage bill for 9600 employees but no don't address that, instead increase the price by nearly 40% to make sure people change their attitude and send less post.
Still can't get over the wage bill, surely the average wage for a postie isn't over €1k a week or €50k a year?

nosilver

An Post have different divisions which are accounted for separately in that letter post cannot be subsidised by parcel post and post offices cannot be subsidised by other parts of the business.

Their parcel division is profitable and extremely busy.
The direct mail and marketing depts are profitable too.

The letter service is loss making primarily due to the obligation to deliver to every address every day.

Volumes of letters has dropped dramatically but costs have not dropped in tandem. So price simply has to rise.

An post actually hope less letters are posted, thus leaving more time for staff for processing direct mail (not day specific) and parcel delivery.

gordongekko

What the hell is a stamp?

Del.Monte

gordongekko wrote: »

What the hell is a stamp?

Ignorance is not a virtue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp

TheRiverman

76544567 wrote: »

End of posting Christmas cards in our house now.

We only posted four cards for Christmas 2016,two to England,one to Australia and one in Ireland.

TheRiverman

The ridiculous practise of having to deliver flyers/junk mail for other companies,charities etc.should be stopped or is An Post obliged to do this by law?.On days when I have no "real"mail the Postman still has to stop at my house and put this junk in the letterbox.Crazy.

Oasis1974

Plus the nasty after taste lickin them on...

my3cents

TheRiverman wrote: »

The ridiculous practise of having to deliver flyers/junk mail for other companies,charities etc.should be stopped or is An Post obliged to do this by law?.On days when I have no "real"mail the Postman still has to stop at my house and put this junk in the letterbox.Crazy.

If its not addressed to you personally then I don't think they have to deliver the Junk mail unless they deliver "normal" stamped mail.

antodeco

Hopefully the price increase can get their van and truck drivers some proper driving lessons...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

TheRiverman wrote: »

The ridiculous practise of having to deliver flyers/junk mail for other companies,charities etc.should be stopped or is An Post obliged to do this by law?.On days when I have no "real"mail the Postman still has to stop at my house and put this junk in the letterbox.Crazy.

We have never received this junk mail unless we had a post delivery as well. It's a major earner for An Post but they do not have to deliver if there's no post for a premises.

TheRiverman

antodeco wrote: »

Hopefully the price increase can get their van and truck drivers some proper driving lessons...

And those on bicycles in towns.

Berserker

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

The problem is the €10m a week wage bill for 9600 employees but no don't address that, instead increase the price by nearly 40% to make sure people change their attitude and send less post.
Still can't get over the wage bill, surely the average wage for a postie isn't over €1k a week or €50k a year?

Did a bit of work for An Post in the GPO a few years ago and a good number in there were high earners with hefty pensions. Their bill for contractors and consultants was insane but that wouldn't be unusual for a company like that in Ireland. I'm guessing that they are losing money, hand over fist?

SPDUB

my3cents wrote: »

I think there might have been but not now, I get stuff, rarely Royal Mail and mostly Ascendia and iParcel. Royal Mail and Ascendia use An Post but there is no direct deal with Amazon, which is what is needed.

No there is still a deal in place for some material

TheRiverman The ridiculous practise of having to deliver flyers/junk mail for other companies,charities etc.should be stopped or is An Post obliged to do this by law?.On days when I have no "real"mail the Postman still has to stop at my house and put this junk in the letterbox.Crazy.

If it is directly addressed to the house , even if it just says "THE RESIDENT" then yes they are obliged by law to deliver that

jackofalltrades

A 28c rise in the cost of a stamp is a joke.

A reduction in the frequency of deliveries should have been looked at, as a alternative to allowing this price increase.

nosilver

jackofalltrades wrote: »

A 28c rise in the cost of a stamp is a joke.

A reduction in the frequency of deliveries should have been looked at, as a alternative to allowing this price increase.

They would love to reduce deliveries, but there's a universal service obligation to provide a daily delivery to every home in the country - similar obligations are on phone lines and electricity, though I think the phone line one might have been abolished recently due to prevalence of mobile.

Similar obligations operate in many countries.

scamalert

well according to independent article this also will drive closure of 80 or so post offices nationwide,and moving most of them into stores.Since article states an post is loosing 10mill a year now.

While id imagine some really rural post offices dont serve much clients,but if the move is to push mail office together with tills,can see it going down hill in service quality,as opposed getting your mail sent directly from PO and picked up on time and so on.