Man's 10,000 stamp panic

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Man's 10,000 stamp panic: Stampede for stamps leaves a 1st class mess as Royal Mail introduces rationing ahead of 30% rise

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A man walked into a post office and ordered 10,000 second-class stamps as panic buying spreads in the face of looming price rises.

He spent £3,600 on the 36p stamps at Hilton Post Office in Derby.

The Royal Mail is increasing first and second-class prices by 14p on April 30.

The price of second-class stamps will rise even more steeply - by 39 per cent, from 36p to 50p. The increases are the biggest since 1975

The price of second-class stamps will rise even more steeply - by 39 per cent, from 36p to 50p. The increases are the biggest since 1975

A spokesman at the branch said: ‘We couldn’t believe he wanted so many, but 14p is a big rise in the current climate.’

Royal Mail’s decision to ration postage stamps ahead of steep price increases led to panic buying and growing anger yesterday.

Small businesses will be hit particularly hard by the increases, with the price of first-class stamps going up from 46p to 60p from April 30 – a rise of 30 per cent.

The price of second-class stamps will rise even more steeply – by 39 per cent, from 36p to 50p. The increases are the biggest since 1975.

But small businesses stockpiling stamps at current prices will be blocked by Royal Mail, which is capping supplies over the next month to 20 per cent of a retailer’s annual allocation.

On Twitter, well-known names were among those saying they had joined the rush to stock up.

Michael Crick, Channel 4’s political editor, tweeted: ‘I’ve just bought 400 1st class + 600 2nd class stamps from Coniston post office. More to come. By far the best investment going right now.

‘I use 3-400 stamps a year, so if I live another 25 years, it makes financial sense to buy 7-10,000 now, as prices will no doubt rise again.’

Yesterday the retailer Superdrug said its supplies of stamps were running low, while the online grocer Ocado said it had run out.

Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury’s all said they had seen a surge in demand.

A worker at the village post office in Gomshall, Surrey, said a customer had bought 3,000 stamps one day this week.

‘Pretty much every customer that has come in has ordered stamps,’ she added.

At Houndsditch post office in the City of London, which has experienced a 25 per cent rise in demand compared with last year, an IT worker who declined to give his name bought 20 books of 12 first-class stamps. ‘

If I could afford it, I would buy a lot more,’ he said.

Labour’s postal affairs spokesman Ian Murray has called on the regulator Ofcom to investigate ‘shameless profiteering at the public’s expense’ by Royal Mail.

He said: ‘The disproportionate rise in the cost of stamps will have a significant impact on small businesses and those on low incomes.

‘It’s understandable that those who will bear the brunt of the increase will want to stock up before the price increase.’

Adrian Bailey, chairman of the Commons business, innovation and skills committee, branded rationing as ‘absolutely outrageous’.

The Federation of Small Businesses said: ‘We would not want small businesses to be penalised because there appears to be a shortage of stamps caused by rationing.’

Royal Mail, which declined to comment on reports of shops running out of supplies, said rationing was ‘in place for all retailers so we can balance the customer demand with the need to protect Royal Mail’s revenues’.

I'D BUY THOUSANDS IF I COULD
Drastic action: Callum Miller has decided to stockpile stamps

Callum Miller, who owns a car business in Stockton-on-Tees, has stocked up on 800 first-class stamps this week and plans to buy as many as cash flow allows before the price rise.

Mr Miller, who started his business three years ago after he lost his job, said the steep increase in charges had put the company’s growth plans in jeopardy.

He said: ‘It is really going to hit us expanding this year. We ordered 5,000 leaflets to send to garages around the UK six weeks ago before they announced the massive price rises and now we’re not sure if we’ll be able to afford to send them all.’

Mr Miller, a 45-year-old father of three, bought 400 first-class stamps from his local post office earlier this week and a further 400 yesterday, which cost him a total of £368 – a saving of £112 compared with the new prices.

‘If I could afford to go in tomorrow and buy another couple of thousand then I would,’ he added.

‘I was not told of any limits when I walked into the local post office.

‘Such a steep increase ... really affects a business like us working on a small profit margin.’

[DGP1]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

[arnold cheshire]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

why didnt royal mail just issue 46p stamps to the retailers there problem solved

[glenfiddich]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

why didnt royal mail just issue 46p stamps to the retailers there problem solved

please do not try to simplify things as it confuses management

[arnold cheshire]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

why didnt royal mail just issue 46p stamps to the retailers there problem solved

please do not try to simplify things as it confuses management

thanks im right

[Lounge Lizard]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

why didnt royal mail just issue 46p stamps to the retailers there problem solved

Because many people would be using them after 30th April and Revenue Protection would be issuing a lot of cards for payment of £1.04.

[POSTMAN]

So this post office would hold that amount of stamps?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Hilton+ ... 04,,0,7.56" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[5plusbonusball]

Don't worry about the price of stamps, wait til the new large letter and packet prices come out! There will be uproar and the people on ebay won't be too chuffed. Packets will go down, we'll be taking hundreds of surcharges for the next few months. Chaos looms.

[arnold cheshire]

People are stupid, panic buying stamps FFS

why didnt royal mail just issue 46p stamps to the retailers there problem solved

Because many people would be using them after 30th April and Revenue Protection would be issuing a lot of cards for payment of £1.04.

yes im aware but after 30 th april the price goes up thats their problem