Cost of sending letter from Isle of Man to rise by five pence

The cost of posting a letter locally, or to the UK, from the Isle of Man is set to rise by five pence from 8 April.

The 8.8% increase will see the standard price go up from 52p to 57p from 2019-20.

The Isle of Man Post Office (IOMPO) said it was still "value for money" but the increase would "enable the business to improve its financial position".

The IOMPO made a loss for the first time in its history in the 2018-19 financial year.

Chairman Julie Edge MHK said the increase was "regrettable", but that an increase in operational costs made the move "inevitable".

"It is essential that the Post Office remains self-funding and does not look to government for a subsidy", Mrs Edge said.

The cost of sending a similar letter in the UK will increase in April from 67p to 70p.

Bosses said average letter mail volumes have halved over the past decade and use of postal services has dropped by 7% year-on-year since 2016.

It is estimated postal volumes will decline by a further 8.8% in 2019-20.

The IOMPO delivers letters and parcels to 40,000 addresses in the island each day.

In 2017-18, 4.8m letters posted in the island were delivered to local addresses, while a further 3.8m local letters were forwarded to the UK.

Tim Baker MHK, who led a Tynwald debate last July over the future of the post office, said the price increase was "not unexpected", but the the company needed "re-purposing for the 21st Century".

Plans for the future delivery of retail services offered by the post office are due to be debated by Tynwald in October.