Royal Mail Price Increase 2026: What It Means for TopParcel

What's More Expensive

Royal Mail has increased rates for international parcels weighing between 100g and 30kg. The increase ranges from 6% to 12% across different weight and geographic categories, averaging around 8%.

The largest increases are for International Tracked & Signed services for parcels over 2kg – the service we use most often for UK → EU and UK → CIS routes.

Royal Mail attributes the increase to rising fuel and operating costs, as well as a drop in international shipping volumes after Brexit. This is standard practice in the industry – postal operators revise rates annually, usually in April.

How Our Rates Are Changing

Our prices won’t increase by a straight 8%. Royal Mail's rates are one factor in our pricing, but not the only one. Other factors include our warehouse processing, the Russian part of the route, customs clearance, and insurance.

Our new rates from April 1, 2026, will see the following increases:

- Economy 1kg UK → Russia: from £14.50 to £15.80 (+9%) - Economy 5kg UK → Russia: from £42 to £45 (+7%) - Standard documents UK → Russia: from £16 to £17.50 (+9%) - Express 1kg UK → Russia: from £28 to £29.50 (+5%)

Other routes will see increases in the 4-9% range.

How We're Compensating

We've managed to absorb some of the increase through internal process improvements. Last year, we shifted some UK volume to DPD UK, where rates only increased by 3%. We've also lowered the minimum threshold for consolidation discounts: the discount now applies to two parcels instead of three.

Thanks to these offsets, the average regular customer's final bill for the quarter has increased by 4-5%, not 8%.

Advice for Senders and Recipients

If you often send parcels between 0.5–2 kg, it’s now more cost-effective to combine two into one. The minimum charge per kilogram is high with the new rates, but the second kilogram adds very little to the cost.

If the parcel isn't urgent, Economy is still 25-30% cheaper than Standard. Express is only worth it when the delivery date is critical.

If you have a business volume (20+ parcels per month), contact your account manager – we’ll review your individual terms. This often reduces the increase to 2-3%, even after carrier surcharges.