BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The price of a first-class stamp could increase for the fourth time in less than two years.
The United States Postal Service has proposed hiking the cost of its "forever stamp" from 68 to 73 cents, it announced this week.
That’s not the only increase on the table. The proposed adjustments, approved by the governors of the Postal Service, would raise all mailing service product prices 7.8%.
It means the price of metered 1-ounce letters would go from 64 to 69 cents, domestic postcards from 53 to 56 cents, and the additional-ounce price for single-piece letters would increase from 24 cents to 28 cents.
The proposal comes after the USPS hiked the cost of a first-class stamp from 66 cents to 68 cents on Jan. 21.
Stamp prices also jumped twice in 2023.
‘Needed to achieve financial stability’
“As changes in the mailing and shipping marketplace continue, these price adjustments are needed to achieve the financial stability sought by the organization’s Delivering for America 10-year plan,” the postal service said in its announcement.
"These price adjustments are needed to achieve the financial stability sought by the organization’s Delivering for America 10-year plan."USPS Postmaster Louis DeJoy
The plan was launched in March 2021 to help guide “the transformation of the United States Postal Service from an organization in financial and operational crisis to one that is self-sustaining and high performing.”
A letter from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy outlining the plan said, “Our business and operating models are unsustainable and out of step with the changing needs of the nation and our customers.
"We have seen steep annual financial losses in the billions of dollars, unmet service performance goals, and less market relevancy as consumer behaviors have changed.”
A call on Congress to intervene
But an advocacy group said the price hikes laid out in the plan haven’t helped, they’ve hurt.
Keep Us Posted — which describes itself as a group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — immediately called on the Postal Regulatory Commission to reject the latest USPS proposal.
It also called on Congress to take a deeper look at the Delivering for America plan, saying it “has not yielded the financial results it promised.”
“The USPS consistently blames frequent postage hikes on inflation, but inflation is just a talking point, when rate increases are consistently far and above the Consumer Price Index,” said Kevin Yoder, former Republican Congressman from Kansas and Executive Director of Keep US Posted.
“Across the board, the proposed July price increases hover at an average of 6.53% above inflation, which is 1.622%," Yoder said in a release.
Yoder said a USPS mail volume loss of more than 9% led to a $6.5 billion loss for the fiscal year 2023 — the same year the USPS projected to break even under the plan.
"Buckle up for more losses if the USPS continues down this route, as the Board of Governors anticipates a $6.3 billion loss in 2024."Kevin Yoder, Executive Director of Keep US Posted
“And buckle up for more losses if the USPS continues down this route, as the Board of Governors anticipates a $6.3 billion loss in 2024," Yoder said.
"It’s time for the Postal Regulatory Commission to hit the brakes on price increases — and for Congress to take a hard look at the numbers and how they affect the financial solvency of the U.S. Postal Service."
If the commission signs off, the new prices on stamps and postal services will take effect July 14.
