Vivienne Clarke
The managing director of An Post, Garret Bridgeman, has defended the decision to increase the cost of a stamp by 25c to €1.65.
The increase was necessary, he said, because the service works on a fixed cost, so whether the postman or woman delivers one letter or three, the cost remained the same, but revenue was down.
“We've actually seen a 40 per cent increase in the cost of delivering a letter since 2020,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
“The reality is if we went out and we actually decreased the price of the stamp today, it wouldn't increase people sending more mail because essentially what's happening is people are using more electronic means, businesses are using email, they're signing up for direct debits," Mr Bridgeman said.
"And you get your monthly gas, electricity bill, emailed to you, with the likes of the large multiples in terms of the supermarkets are doing their clubcards and everything online. So people are actually moving more and more to electronic means.”
Mr Bridgeman explained that the parcels and letters businesses were separate with different delivery patterns. Significant cost and investment had gone into the parcels service, revenue from which went into building new warehouses, new automation, new technology, new large fonts.
“From our point of view, we don't make big profits. We make about a four per cent margin on our letters business. All of that money is invested in our infrastructure, in our people, in our technology.
"And, you know, even though customers are sending less mail, all our research shows that people really value that national postal service because what they're sending now is really, really important. And having that national postal infrastructure, which allows you to post a letter in Buncrana today and have it delivered tomorrow in Clonakilty, for example, is incredibly important.
"For us, equally as important is the societal role that An Post plays in the community. You know, our postpersons checking in on the elderly to see if they're okay, see if they need anything. This is a vital role really.”
An Post “really, really don’t like putting up the price”, but the €1.65 cost of a stamp in Ireland was actually “way below” the EU average, which was €1.88 while it was nearly €2 in the UK, he said.
