The Postal Service will raise domestic standard mail rates by up to 17.5 percent next month. It is the first rate hike in about 5 years and will usher in a 500 won era for a single letter. The move is aimed at responding to falling mail volumes and rising costs.

The Ministry of Science and ICT's Postal Service recently issued an advance administrative notice of a partial revision to its notice on domestic standard mail rates and fees related to postal use. The revision includes raising domestic standard mail rates by 70 won per item. If the revision is confirmed after gathering opinions, the new rates will apply from next month 1.

Under the revision, the rate for a 25-gram item, commonly used in standard mail, will rise to 500 won from 430 won. That is an increase of 16.3 percent. The 5-gram rate will rise 17.5 percent to 470 won from 400 won, and the 50-gram rate will increase 15.6 percent to 520 won from 450 won.

The size of this increase is large even compared with past postage adjustments. The 25-gram rate for ordinary standard mail rose from 270 won to 300 won on Aug. 1, 2013, followed by increases to 330 won in April 2017, to 380 won in May 2019 and to 430 won in September 2021.

That rate band, which had been adjusted in increments of 30 won or 50 won, will rise by 70 won to 500 won this time. With the first increase in about 5 years, the ordinary standard mail rate will move into the 500 won range for the first time.

For non-standard mail items, the 50-gram rate will rise to 590 won from 520 won. For items over 50 grams up to 1 kg, an additional 120 won will continue to be added for each 50 grams. The structure will remain in place under which 120 won is added for each 200 grams for items over 1 kg up to 2 kg, and 400 won is added for each 1 kg for items over 2 kg up to 6 kg.

The continuing deficit in the postal business is cited as the background to the rate hike. The postal business unit posted a deficit in the 300 billion won range last year. The Postal Service is covering losses from the postal business with profits from financial businesses such as deposits and insurance.

Still, the Postal Service set the size of the increase while considering the public burden and conditions for using universal postal services, even as it seeks to reduce the deficit burden. "As mail volumes decline every year, infrastructure maintenance costs and labor costs for providing universal postal services continue to rise," it said. "We are adjusting rates to provide stable postal services," it added.