Mayo stamp prices to increase in line with European postal rates

The national stamp will increase by 20c from €1.65 to €1.85 on Tuesday, February 3, for personal customers in line with global trends.

A new €3.50 stamp for letters to anywhere in Europe, including Britain, is being introduced, an increase of 85c. A new ‘Rest of World’ stamp priced €3.95 is required to stem significant losses on this category of outgoing mail due to a 38% fall in international letters over the last three years.

More than 50% of outgoing international mail is destined for Britain, Germany and France, which is why An Post has introduced this new Europe and Britain €3.50 rate, rather than apply the higher Rest of World rate to this category.

Rates for large envelopes, packets, over-the-counter parcels and registered post will also rise, as will rates for the innovative national and international digital stamps.

An Post said that the price changes are carefully calculated to cover the cost of providing a world class national letter service to every address, and taking account of wage increases for postal staff in line with national pay awards, increased operating costs and letter volumes which have declined by 7% in the last 12 months and more than 50% since 2016. A similar rate of decline is forecast for 2026.

Garrett Bridgeman, Managing Director of An Post Mails and Parcels said: “An Post’s priority is to support the Irish economy and communities by providing world-class services for the people and businesses country wide. We work hard on the economics of the business by introducing smarter work practices and managing costs to achieve fair, cost-reflective prices below the European benchmark average, and below the UK, despite falling volumes due to e-substitution.

“An Post remains entirely self-financed. Our quality of service is amongst the highest in Europe and we continue to innovate in the provision of vital services for the Irish economy and local communities. I’m pleased to confirm that An Post’s Community Focus supports, including free postage to all nursing and care homes, will continue throughout 2026.”

Conscious of the older and vulnerable customers, An Post staff will continue to check in on customers, particularly those living alone in isolated rural areas, during spells of bad weather. The free delivery service for all letter and parcels up to 1kg posted to residents of nursing and care homes in the State will be continued. The An Post-sponsored free Carepack service, for example, has reached over 120,000 residents since 2020.

Further details about the price increases are available here.