Standard-size mail fees in Japan to be raised by up to 31% around fall 2024

TOKYO — Japan’s communications ministry has proposed hiking standard-size mail fees by up to 31% in 2024.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced a draft ordinance on Dec. 18 to revise the maximum postal rate for standard-size sealed letters weighing up to 25 grams from the current 84 yen (about 60 cents) to 110 yen (approx. 80 cents). After the ministerial ordinance revision, Japan Post Co. intends to raise the price around the fall of 2024. Except for price changes due to consumption tax hikes in the past, the cost to send a sealed letter has remained unchanged since 1994. Japan Post is also planning to increase the postcard rate from 63 yen to 85 yen.

Mail volume has been decreasing every year due to the digitization of communications and previously paper-based procedures, among other factors. That paired with wage hikes and soaring transportation costs pushed Japan Post’s mail business into the red in fiscal 2022, the first time it had lost money since its privatization in 2007, and the company was considering rate hikes.

The communications ministry consulted a council on the draft ministerial ordinance on Dec. 18 on the grounds that the impact on overall household finances would be minimal. The 31% fee increase would be the second highest percentage hike after one in 1976, when the price for a standard letter was raised from 20 yen to 50 yen. In 1994, the rate was raised from 62 yen to 80 yen. The most recent hikes were 2 yen each in 2014 and 2019, when the consumption tax was raised to 8% and 10%, respectively.

Currently, the prices for sending sealed letters are divided into 84 yen for up to 25 grams and 94 yen for up to 50 grams. Japan Post plans to eliminate this weight division and unify the rates at 110 yen in 2024. In addition to postcards, the company will consider basic fee hikes of approximately 30% for nonstandard size mail. Rates that were raised in October this year, including the fee to send cash by registered mail, will remain unchanged.

The maximum fee for sealed letters weighing up to 25 grams is set through administration of the Postal Act, taking into consideration the burden on the public and prices. A revision of the communications ministry’s ordinance is necessary to change the rate. Other postal charges can be revised upon notification by Japan Post. The ministry council will submit its report as early as in March 2024, and the new rates are expected to be introduced around fall.

(Japanese original by Tatsuya Michinaga, Business News Department)