Postage Price Update April 2022

In these tough times, when prices just seem to be going up and up, I’m very pleased to be able to say that since the Royal Mail has reduced some of its postage prices this week (April 2022), I can now pass these reductions on to my customers.

All kinds of household expenses are increasing significantly at the moment, and over the last few years lots of the basics of business – such as printer paper and postal boxes – have also been steadily increasing.

On 3rd February 2021 I paid £15.30 for a box of recycled A4 printer paper, this month I’ve paid £27.97 for the same box of paper.

Postage prices have been going up steadily too, with a significant jump in overseas postage costs during the pandemic. The postage rates have also increased a lot in complexity. Just a few years ago there was one rate for geographical Europe, and then two other rates for World Zone 1 and World Zone 2.

Now, there are three different Europe rates plus separate arrangements for Germany, and three different World Zones.

When you consider that I have around 25 different postage profiles on Etsy and the same on this website (for different sizes and weights of item, such as a greetings card or a crochet kit) you can see why editing the details of 2 x 25 x UK 2nd Class, UK 1st Class, Germany, Europe 1, Europe 2, Europe 3, World Zone 1, World Zone 2, World Zone 3, takes a while!

I have to do some serious maths too, to make sure that customers purchasing multiple items are charged accurately, as the Royal Mail’s formulae are not easy to replicate.

For example, the formula I use to work out how much to charge for P&P for n Dishcloth Kits to a country in Europe Zone 1, looks like this:

9.1+2.3*(((n-1))^0.00000000001)+0.75*(((n-1)*(n-2))^0.00000000001)
+0.45*(((n-1)*(n-2)*(n-3))^0.00000000001)

The calculations are also different in my Etsy shop and my online shop here, for various reasons including the fees Etsy charge on postage, the way I can only charge a single gift-wrapping rate on Etsy regardless of the size of the item (gift-wrapping often pushes a parcel from one postage bracket into a higher one).

I’m sure other sellers opt for a much simpler set-up, but for me it’s about maintaining the clear link between the postage I charge and what the postage and packaging actually costs, particularly for multiple items. I don’t like the ‘hide’ the cost of postage in the cost of the item and present artificially low postage costs, although Etsy puts a lot of pressure on us to do just that. If you think you are getting free postage, it usually means that if you buy two of an item, you are paying twice as much as you should for postage.

However, today is a good day as the Royal Mail have lowered several of their inland and overseas postage prices (from 4th April 2022), and I have reflected these in updating my P&P across Etsy and this website.

For example, my standard parcel postage rate (for all my ornaments, kits, key fobs, etc) is now £3.05 rather than £3.20. Expedited 24 Hour postage for one of my Crochet Starter Kits is now £5.65 rather than £8.00.

My overseas customers are also benefitting. As an example, postage for my Duckling Kit to Australia is down to £11.45 from £12.67, and to Canada down to £10.30 from £11.36.

I’m so pleased to see these prices starting to come down again after they’re risen so much over the last few years.