During the 1950’s and 60’s postal rates gradually increased in price, usually by half pence at a time. By 1965 the rate for a posting a letter was 4d and a postcard 3d. Recorded delivery cost 6d and registered or special delivery was 3s.

A basic letter rate was 4d for up to 2oz, or 6d for anything up to 4oz. To save money many letters would contain lightweight stationary to keep costs as low as possible.

At this time a postcard was a good way of sending messages and was a more common method of communication than it is today. Modern postcards are mainly used for greetings or gifts rather than correspondence. Small postcards were charged at 3d and large 4d. This was an early version of the postage by proportion scheme introduced in 2006. (See later)

This method ran until 1968, when the Post Office introduced the 1^st and 2^nd Class postage system, effectively abolishing the postcard rate. The price was increased to 5d for up to 4oz and 9d for 6oz. Second Class was 4 for 4oz and 6d for 6oz.

The take up for the new system was very slow, as the concept of having a 2^nd class rate confused many people. A lot of people did not like the concept that their mail would not be given preferential treatment, and first class mail continued at normal rates. Businesses welcomed the 2^nd class rate as it allowed them to save money on non essential mail. The removal of the postcard rate meant that the usage of postcards dropped rapidly as it was the same price to send a letter.

With 1971 bringing the adoption of decimal currency, the Postal rates were changed again. First class was now 3p and second class was 2.5p, still not much difference between them. With the cost of the services increasing the Post office realised that they must soon raise prices again, but instead they found an alternative method. The lowered the first class threshold from 4oz to 2oz at the same price of 3p, and the same with second class.

This gave people the choice of paying more for sending normal post, or lowering the weight of their mail and paying the same price. This was a success and managed to keep the price lower for the majority of mail users.

Costs still continued to spiral and between 1973 and 1975 the cost of postage more than doubled, leaving a first class letter costing 7p. A lot of the extra revenue was invested in better technology, sorting equipment, extra staff and even an underground railway! The service was greatly improved and led to the Postal Service being one of the best in the world.

In September 1975 the Postal rates, much like everything else in the country, were adapted to fit in with the metric system. The 2oz first class rate was raised to 60g and the price was raised accordingly to 8.5p or 11.5p for 100g. Second class was raised to 6.5p for 60g and 9p for 100g.

Prices continued to increase over the years, 1980 saw a first class stamp costing 10p and second class 8p. By 1990 it had increased to 20p and 15p respectively, and the year 2000 26p and 19p.

Interestingly, between 2nd and 24th December 1986, the 2^nd class letter rate was lowered from 13p to 12p. Another stamp was issued to add to the Christmas set, although these were sold in Booklets. They are exactly the same design as the 13p but with the value changed. The booklets were sold at a discount and were distinguishable by blue inked stars on the reverse of the stamp.

August 21^st 2006 saw a shake up to the entire postal system with the introduction of Pricing In Proportion, dealt with in a separate article. Effectively, despite the restrictions, first class rate became 32p and second class 23p for ordinary letters.

---

Bookmark with: