The Royal Mail has announced that the prices of parcels and stamps are likely to go up again.
The cost of sending post has already increased this year, as first-class stamps went up by 10p to 95p, while second class increased by 2p up to 68p.
The organisation has said it facing what it calls “significant headwinds” and has increased its cost-cutting target accordingly, from £290million to £350million.
In January, the firm announced that some 700 roles in management were going to be axed, having cut 2,000 jobs - around a fifth of its managers - in June 2020.
The cuts were made shortly after the beginning of the pandemic.
Why are stamp prices going up?
The Royal Mail is putting up prices as a reaction to higher costs, which include things like wages and expenses like energy and fuel.
The firm has reported an 8.8% decrease in pre-tax profit of £662m in the year ending in March.
The organisation has also said that it needs to adapt to the role of a postal service in the 21st century.
Simon Thompson, chief executive of the organisation, said: "As we emerge from the pandemic, the need to accelerate the transformation of our business, particularly in delivery, has become more urgent.
"Our future is as a parcels business, so we need to adapt old ways of working designed for letters and do it much more quickly to a world increasingly dominated by parcels.
"The last two years has shown us all how quickly customer needs can change.
"Our focus now is to work at pace with our people and our trade unions to reinvent this British icon for the next generations, so that we can give our customers what they want, grow our business sustainably and deliver long-term job security for our great team. We have no time to waste."
The number of letters being sent has dropped by around 60% since their highest between 2004 and 2005. They have dropped by a further 20% since the pandemic began.
Mr Thompson said that they would now be working to “reinvent this British icon for the next generations" with trade unions and staff.
The Royal Mail is still locked in a pay dispute with its largest union.
The company chairman, Keith Williams, said that the company was expecting economic growth to slow after strong period caused by the parcel booms of the pandemic.
Echoing Thompson, he said: “We are at a crossroads with the transformation of Royal Mail.
“We need to adapt our business to a post-pandemic world and whilst we are making progress in some areas, more needs to be done in others.”
