As the owner of a stationery business, I probably think about the post rather more than the average person. Cards, writing paper and parcels leave my little studio almost every day, heading to customers and shops all over the UK and further afield.
And despite some of the criticism Royal Mail receives, I have to start by saying that my own experience of our local posties is overwhelmingly positive. They know me by name, they know that a rather large proportion of the post leaving our village originates from my studio, and they are friendly, careful and reliable. I also love the simplicity of being able to walk to one of several local postboxes and pop my orders in. When you run a small business, that convenience really matters.
But there is one aspect of Royal Mail that I find increasingly difficult to defend: the cost of sending a simple card.
91p to send a card
A Second Class stamp now costs 91p. First Class is £1.80.
For one birthday card, perhaps 91p doesn't feel enormous. But what if you're sending 30 Christmas cards? Suddenly you're looking at £27.30 just for Second Class postage, before you've bought a single card. And I can't help wondering whether we are reaching the point where the cost of postage is actively discouraging people from putting pen to paper.
As someone whose entire business is built around the idea that receiving something lovely through the letterbox still matters, I think that would be a real shame.
Could a 50p stamp help save the Christmas card?
Recently I've been following a campaign calling on Royal Mail to introduce a special 50p Christmas and Seasonal Greetings stamp.
The idea is wonderfully simple: for a limited period in the run-up to Christmas, people could buy a 50p stamp specifically for personal Christmas and seasonal cards. The campaign has attracted thousands of supporters, and I can see why.
Christmas cards are one of those small traditions that connect us. They are particularly meaningful for people we may not see very often, elderly relatives, old friends and those who live alone. An email or WhatsApp message is lovely, but there is something quite different about seeing someone's handwriting on an envelope and knowing that they chose a card, sat down to write it and posted it especially for you.
There is also something rather lovely about the story behind this particular campaign. The women who started the petition are descendants of Sir Henry Cole, who commissioned the first commercial Christmas card in 1843 and was also closely involved in postal reform. Their argument is that affordable postage helped people stay connected then – and could do the same now.
You can read and sign the campaign for a 50p Christmas stamp by clicking here
But price isn't the only issue
Royal Mail has also recently changed the way Second Class post is delivered. Second Class letters are now delivered every other weekday some areas, rather than every weekday, with Royal Mail giving a delivery aim of within three weekdays.
I certainly notice the difference through my business. Most of my orders arrive exactly as they should, but occasionally a customer contacts me because an order hasn't arrived. And there seem to be parts of the country where Second Class post can be frustratingly slow. That's difficult for a small business. Once I have carefully packed an order and dropped it into the postbox, I have very little control over what happens next. But as far as my customer is concerned, it's still my parcel that hasn't arrived.
Is Royal Mail actually better than the alternatives?
This is where things become a little less straightforward, because I also use other delivery companies. I use Evri for some parcels because its prices can be very competitive. Most of the time, everything works perfectly well.
The problem comes when it doesn't.
Trying to get meaningful customer service when something goes wrong can be incredibly frustrating. I've recently had to make claims for missing parcels, and the experience has been difficult to say the least.
There's also the question of convenience. I can walk to a Royal Mail postbox. With Evri, I need a designated ParcelShop or locker. I'm delighted that one has recently opened in the next village, because before that I had to get in the car simply to drop off a parcel.
For many of my larger wholesale orders, meanwhile, I use DHL Express. I've found it fast, efficient and surprisingly reasonable for the service provided.
So perhaps the cheapest postage isn't necessarily the best postage. Reliability, convenience and what happens when something goes wrong all matter too.
Maybe we need to value the post again
Despite the occasional missing order and my frustrations over rising prices, I would be genuinely sad to see our postal service diminish.
There is something rather extraordinary about being able to put an addressed envelope into a red box in a tiny Berkshire village and have it appear through someone's letterbox hundreds of miles away a day or two later.
And for me, the post is about much more than moving pieces of paper from A to B.
A birthday card says "I remembered'. A thank-you card says "I appreciated what you did". A handwritten letter says "you were worth sitting down and making time for".
Perhaps that's why the idea of a 50p stamp appeals to me so much. It isn't really about saving 41p. It's about keeping the simple act of sending a card affordable enough that we continue to do it.