From staff reports The price of postage stamps could increase by a nickel in July under a new U.S. Postal Service proposal announced recently.
If approved, the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp would increase from 68 cents to 73 cents. The cost of metered letters would increase from 64 cents to 69 cents.
The Postal Service also is seeking price adjustments for special services products, including certified mail and money order fees. Notably, there would be no price increase for Post Office Box rental fees, and the Postal Service will apply a price reduction of 10% for postal insurance when mailing an item.
This would be the 19th stamp rate change since 2000 – and occurs as Americans continue to reduce what they send via so-called “snail mail.”
It’s also the fifth proposed rate hike in two years. Rates last went up in January 2024; before that, they rose in July 2023, January 2023, and July 2022.
The only other 5-cent increase happened in January 2019, when the price of a first-class stamp increased from 50 to 55 cents. Most increases have been 2 to 3 cents.
Between the 1970s and 2000, rates increased three to four times a decade, USPS data show.
USPS filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission that it proposed to raise prices by approximately 7.8% effective July 14.
More price increases are expected as part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's 10-year “Delivering for America” plan to “achieve financial stability.”
USPS said that the price adjustments are needed as “changes in the mailing and shipping marketplace continue.”
The number of pieces of mail handled by the Postal Service has been on the decline for several years as more people pay bills online and fewer send physical thank you cards. USPS handled 116.1 billion pieces of mail last year, compared to the high of 213.1 billion in 2006, data show.
The Postal Service said in November that it projected a net loss of $6.5 billion for the fiscal year.