Free stamps for 1.4 million households

SINGAPORE — Ten million stamps will be given out to 1.4 million households here ahead of an increase in postage rates, SingPost announced yesterday.

The postal company said 1,200 of their delivery staff have already begun delivering the free stamps islandwide to help mitigate any impact from the rise in postage rates. It expects the deliveries to be completed by Oct 1.

Each household will receive a stamp booklet comprising six 1st Local stamps, which are used for standard mail weighing up to 20g, worth S$1.80.

More than 130 charity homes for the elderly, young, disabled and other residential facilities will also receive between 100 and 300 of the free stamp booklets, depending on the capacity of the facility. The free stamps distributed will be valued at the prevailing postage rate of 30 cents from Oct 1.

Yesterday, SingPost also announced that all franked mail customers will enjoy a 5 per cent rebate for a year from Oct 1 until Sept 30, 2015.

SingPost said that over the years, public letter mail has been on the decline. The average Singaporean posts only six letters or cards a year.

This is mainly due to the prevalence of multiple e-communication platforms such as e-mail, SMS and social networking sites.