The Price of Stamps Just Jumped—Again

UPDATE Jul 15, 2024 12:02 PM CDT

Postal rates went up again Sunday, with the price of a Forever stamp jumping five cents to 73 cents each. USA Today reports that's a 78% increase in price over the lifetime of Forever stamps, which were first issued by the USPS in 2007 at a cost of 41 cents. But volume has also cratered in that time, with domestic first-class mail down 52%. Axios reports stamps have only jumped five cents once before, when they rose to 55 cents in January 2019; all other increases have been smaller amounts, most typically in the two- to three-cent range. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his Delivering for America plan, which includes twice-annual stamp increases, have plenty of critics; he defended his plan last week in a Washington Post op-ed.

Apr 10, 2024 2:30 AM CDT

If you've just started to get used to the new cost of a first-class stamp, don't get too comfortable. The US Postal Service said Tuesday that it wants to raise the price again, in what the Wall Street Journal reports would be the fourth increase since the start of 2023. The cost of a stamp was most recently upped two cents to 68 cents in January. This time around, the USPS wants to push it up five more cents to 73 cents. The 7.4% increase would need to get the blessing of the Postal Regulatory Commission before going into effect on the planned date of July 14.

The Journal notes it would mark the sixth increase since 2020, putting it well ahead of the pace set between 2010 and 2020, which saw seven increases. The USPS cites the rising cost of delivering mail as the driver of the price changes, with Reuters reporting the USPS suffered a $6.5 billion net loss for the 12 months ending Sept. 30; first-class mail hit its lowest volume in 55 years.

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The AP reports US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has told consumers to expect "uncomfortable" rate hikes, which he said were overdue after "at least 10 years of a defective pricing model." The planned price changes include increasing the cost of sending a letter abroad from $1.55 to $1.65, upping a postcard stamp from 53 cents to 56 cents, and increasing the cost of sending a metered letter from 64 cents to 69 cents. (More USPS stories.)