Isle of Man Post Office has announced details of its 2014 postage rates. There will now be one postage rate for standard letters up to 100g sent both in the Isle of Man and to the UK. The standard UK letter price will be held at 42p benefiting those customers sending mail items off island and the rate for Isle of Man addresses will also sit at 42p.
Isle of Man Post Office still remains cheaper than any of its counterparts in the UK and continues to be among the lowest in Europe. Some customers will benefit from the prices that have been held for a further year whilst others will see an increase.
The new prices come into effect on 31st March 2014. Changes to postage and ancillary services rates will be introduced and includes:
Large letters up to 100g will move to 90p, all others will be held at current prices for a further year. Packets as with letters have had rates simplified, weights will now go up to a maximum load of 5kgs in 1kg increments and the price for 1kg will cost £3.
Special Delivery is to see a modest increase across all weight bands with prices starting at £4.71 for Isle of Man and £6.40 for UK.
International letters are to see a small rise across weight bands with prices starting at 75p for Europe and £1.21 for ROW. Similarly packets will now start at £2.74 for Europe and £3.52 ROW.
International Tracked is to replace Airsure and International Signed For has been renamed to International Signed. A new service called International Tracked and Signed that offers full tracking with signature on delivery, online confirmation and availability to 43 destinations will now be available at a cost of £5 plus postage.
To add to this, a small increase of approximately 4% will be added to the Post Office ancillary services (KeepSafe, Redirection, Private Boxes – Business and Individual, Collection and Delivery fees, Door2Door, Freepost, and Business Reply).
Geoff Corkish MBE MLC, Chairman of Isle of Man Post Office said: "The new pricing structure for 2014 comes into effect at the end of March. Some customers will benefit from prices being held for a further year whilst others will see an increase. Contributory factors to the price changes include a number of increases to postage and ancillary services as a result of changing commercial agreements with Royal Mail, the need to simplify our tariffs for customers and the continual decline of mail volumes.
He added: "The Isle of Man Post Office is an innovative and forward thinking organisation and for the last five years posted volumes have been declining at around 4% per annum, due to this situation we are trying to stop this decline by identifying and expanding into new areas of business to ensure the Post Office sustains itself over the long term and continues to provide customers with the most competitive prices it is able to."
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