The price of a stamp to hit 100 cents

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.

marklazarcovic

Aryanna Tinkling Stone wrote: »

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.

Incorrect, it's usually delivered with regular mail,but junk mail has to be delivered every week a Postie recieves it,to every address, regardless of whether they get normal mail or not, only exception is for no junk mail notices on letterboxes ...

Which incidentally does not stop ' to the resident' mail,just stops junk with no address.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

marklazarcovic wrote: »

Incorrect, it's usually delivered with regular mail,but junk mail has to be delivered every week a Postie recieves it,to every address, regardless of whether they get normal mail or not, only exception is for no junk mail notices on letterboxes ...

Which incidentally does not stop ' to the resident' mail,just stops junk with no address.

Then our postman must be disobeying the rules, as we have never received unsolicited mail of any kind, unless with regular post and we could go a week without post.

marklazarcovic

I can see it becoming a 3 day delivery for rural addresses before too long,but special permission is required first,it's simply a loss making excercise which they have to fulfill,hardly fair. As someone else said,the average price in Europe is 1.02 c for a stamp.. AVERAGE.

Del.Monte

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.

What, put the staff on a four day week? I can see that working - not. More likely An Post would cut deliveries alright but the staff would be paid to sit on their holes in their depots - bit like what CIE have done with their station staff.

jackofalltrades

nosilver wrote: »

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.

My post ment that COMREG should have looked at reduced service levels before allowing this large price increase.

marklazarcovic

Aryanna Tinkling Stone wrote: »

Then our postman must be disobeying the rules, as we have never received unsolicited mail of any kind, unless with regular post and we could go a week without post.

Posties don't get junk every week either so u won't see him unless he does have post, some weeks we get 5 different lots,some none at all

topmanamillion

The final death cries of a dying industry. Outside of Xmas if I send 3 letters a year its about the height of it. And I`d imagine a lot of people are the same.

Its 75c (65p) to send a letter first class with the Royal Mail in England, now while there is an economy of scale there, there's also a larger geographical area too.

While An Post could undoubtedly cut costs their hands are some what tied by a public opinion which views post offices as a social outlet rather than the businesses which they should be.

Samuel T. Cogley

Should be higher with a tax on it for wasting paper.

Almost nothing actually needs to be sent by post these days.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

marklazarcovic wrote: »

I can see it becoming a 3 day delivery for rural addresses before too long,but special permission is required first,it's simply a loss making excercise which they have to fulfill,hardly fair. As someone else said,the average price in Europe is 1.02 c for a stamp.. AVERAGE.

There are public service obligations, as with electricity et al.
There are businesses in rural areas as well as urban.

Get the price up to the European average and give An Post a chance to be meeting costs.

TallGlass

Was only increased last year...