Stamp Prices, Postal Rates to Rise in September

On Friday 29 July 2022, POST Luxembourg announced that postal rates will rise in the Grand Duchy from 1 September 2022, affecting both national and international mailings of letters and parcels.

The announcement argued that the price rises are necessary / justified in order to ensure the sustainability and quality of the universal service in a context of continuous structural decline in mail volumes and rising costs, in particular of labour, infrastructure and transport, and to continue to innovate and to adapt to the uses and needs of its customers. 

As of 1 September 2022, the postage for a standard letter increases by €0.20 for national mail (new price €1.00). Prices for sending a standard letter to Europe and to the rest of the world will increase by €0.35 to €1.40 and €1.75 respectively. 

In accordance with the law of 26 December 2012 on postal services, the application of these new tariffs by POST to the first level (up to 50 grams) of postal items of the universal postal service has been approved by the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation (ILR).

The postage of this first weight level is the basic reference for the postal rates of the higher levels. The principle of "reference stamp multiplier", introduced in 2015, allows the customer to affix stamps of identical face value taken from the same booklet, regardless of the franking category. As of September 1, 2022, the prices of the different categories of postal items will also be adapted according to this principle. Non-profit associations and foundations will continue to benefit from preferential rates. They can call on POST to take advantage of a special rate for national standard mail. This reduced postage "ATR" is equivalent to half the usual rate and thus rises from 1 September 2022 to €0.50.

As of 1 September 2022, postage stamps with a face value lower than the new applicable rates can still be used provided that additional postage is added.
Stamps without face value are valid for sending letters of a determined weight without time limit. Thus, an “L50g” stamp, for example, remains valid for the national sending of a standard letter of 50 grams.

The announcement added that, in view of the analyses published by the International Post Corporation, the latter attest that POST Luxembourg's pricing is comparatively low, both for national prices and for international shipments. Following the adaptations, POST Luxembourg's postal rates will continue to be below the average rates applied in Europe. In neighbouring countries, the comparable rates currently applied for a priority national shipment up to 50 grams are €1.00 in Germany, €1.89 in Belgium and €2.86 in France (caveat: weight categories vary according to country).

On average, each Luxembourg household consumed 6 stamps in 2021.

The last revision of POST Luxembourg's postal service prices dated from 1 May 2019.