Get ready to pay HK$2 per letter next year as Hong Kong postage rates go up

It will soon cost HK$2 to send a letter locally, up from HK$1.70, as the city’s postal authority announced its first postal rate increase in four years on Wednesday, citing severe competition and rising costs.

Hongkong Post said the adjustment – which will kick in on Jan 1, 2018 – was necessary to offset escalating operating costs such as staff costs and terminal dues payments.

“With the development of information technology, electronic communication is replacing traditional correspondence, and market competition from commercial delivery services is severe. These pose great challenges to the HKP business,” the statement by the authority read.

“The current postage revisions are to achieve cost recovery and broadly reflect the projected cumulative inflation since the last adjustments up to December 2017.”

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Overall, the postage increase for about 80 per cent of total traffic will be within $1.