ROYAL Mail has made a major change to fees today and you’ll face paying more this Christmas.
Business account customers now have to pay an additional peak surcharge of 5p for letters and 10p for parcels.
Shoppers face an additional cost this Christmas as Royal Mail introduces another surchargeRex
The surcharge came into force today (November 20) and will remain until January 7.
While the surcharge won’t be charged directly to consumers, there are concerns that they will end up footing the bill anyway if businesses look to up their prices to cover the extra cost.
Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, previously told The Sun: “Online retailers are having to contend with rising prices on all sides, so they’re highly unlikely to take these extra charges on the chin.
“It’s going to be passed onto shoppers, who can expect to see the cost of Christmas keep on rising.”
The change comes after business account customers were asked to pay a new 2p green surcharge.
The green surcharge was introduced on Monday, November 6.
It comes after Royal Mail announced that first class stamps will go up from £1.10 to £1.25 on October 2.
Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at Moneycomms, said the possibility of additional costs is the “last thing hard-pressed consumers need”.
The 2p green surcharge is applied by the Royal Mail to its business customers fund its decarbonisation measures.
Products including Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 are subject to this charge.
Plus the 5p peak surcharge is applied to Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 large letters, Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 letterboxable products sent by business account holders.
The following products will be hit with a 10p peak surcharge:
Royal Mail 24
Royal Mail 48 Parcels
Royal Mail Tracked 24
Royal Mail Tracked 48 Parcels
Royal Mail Tracked Returns
Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am, 1pm and end of the day Sunday
Special Delivery Guaranteed Returns
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Christmas is our busiest time of year and we invest in thousands of additional staff, more vehicles and additional parcel sorting sites to manage around double the normal volumes of parcels.
“Other parcel carriers already apply a similar surcharge during the Christmas period.”
In other news, the Post Office has made a huge change to parcel deliveries and shoppers will love it.
Customers will have the option of sending packages using DPD and Evri in its branches instead of just Royal Mail.
It means that those wishing to send family members parcels for Christmas or those looking to post clothes they’ve sold online now have a choice over their postage courier.
The new service will begin in selected branches in time for the peak Christmas delivery season.