of Parliament voted through the increase early on Saturday morning.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox said that even with the price hike, the Post Office will still be running at a $1 million deficit.

Shadow Legislative Affairs Minister John Barritt said increasing prices alone would not necessarily solve the problems in the Post Office.

He said: "Volume is going down. We need to do some innovative thinking for the Post Office before it goes the way of the Dodo bird.'' He suggested providing public Internet access terminals to those not yet connected to e-mail and automation procedures to streamline the Post Office's operations.