The new price of stamps still represent “good value” for money, An Post has argued. 

From next month, the cost of national stamps will increase from €1.65 to €1.85. 

Anyone sending a letter to Britain or another country in the European Union will pay €3.50 for a stamp, while a stamp for a destination anywhere else in the world will cost €3.95. 

On Lunchtime Live, An Post spokesperson Anna McHugh said the cost of delivering letters keeps increasing, all while demand falls. 

 “Volumes of letters are down about 50% in the last decade and they're falling around 7-8% every year,” she explained. 

“It's a little slower than has happened in most of the rest of the world, but it's still a fairly rapid decline.

“Much as we love it - and thankfully Christmas is very strong and people love to get a card - but people aren't posting like they used to. 

“And when we look at what people are posting and how often they're doing it and what they're receiving, it really is less and less.”

A postman in Skibbereen. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Ms McHugh added that many people are even moving “beyond email” and communicating through apps. 

Overall, she still feels stamps represent good value for what they deliver. 

“I paid over €4 for a teabag in a cup, which shocked me,” she said. 

“A coffee and a pastry is the guts of €10 if you're in any of the urban centres, certainly. 

“So, €1.65 to get a letter within Cork to Cork or from Cork all the way up to Letterkenny.

“I think that's good value.”

An An Post postman is seen collecting letters from a post box in Killarney. Picture by: Ognyan Trifonov / Alamy Stock Photo

But however loved and admired An Post and their workforce may be, Ms McHugh  said the company’s long-term prospects are poor. 

“There's going to be fewer [letters] - there's no doubt about that,” she said. 

“No matter what we do; even if the stamps were free, there would be fewer.”

Main image: A postman emptying a post box and putting the letters into a sack for delivery in Cork. Picture by: Alamy.com.