Offcom: The Communications Market Report: International

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The UK is still one of the cheapest countries in which to send a standard sized domestic letter. It costs 60p to send a First Class standard sized letter in the UK, the same price as in China. Among our European comparators, it is only cheaper to send a letter with the same dimensions in Ireland (49p) and Poland (46p).

A higher proportion of online UK adults send invitations, greetings cards or postcards in comparison to the other countries that we surveyed. More than a third (35%) of respondents in the UK had sent this type of mail in the past month. Those in Germany were least likely to have sent electronic greetings cards, with around a fifth (18%) doing so.

People in the UK receive more items of mail in a week than those in Italy, Australia and Spain. The average number of items received by people in the UK was 6.8, on a par with Germany (6.4) but far less than those in France where the average number of items received was highest (12.5).

The UK is among the countries with the highest proportion of consumers who had received a parcel in the past month. Six in ten (61%) of people claimed to receive parcels, on a par with France and Germany. Those in Italy and Spain were least likely to have received a parcel in the past month.

People in France and the US were the most likely to send mail to businesses, such as formal letters or payment for bills. More than eight in ten (84%) respondents in France had sent this type of mail, while seven in ten (69%) in the US had done so. Just under half of respondents in the UK had sent mail to businesses in the past month.