The cost of postage stamps is going up by 3 cents on Sunday, the third price hike in the last 12 months.
Forever Stamp Prices Go Up Today
The cost of a first-class “forever” stamp will go from 63 cents to 66 cents. That follows a jump from 60 to 63 cents in late January and, prior to that, from 58 to 60 cents in July 2022.
In a statement, the US Postal Service blamed the hike on inflation, as well as what it labeled an earlier “defective pricing model.”
“As operating expenses fueled by inflation continue to rise and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve the financial stability sought by its Delivering for America 10-year plan,” the USPS said in a press release in April.
The first-class stamp will be double the 1999 rate of 33 cents.
Metered Letters On The Rise
The price for sending a metered letter will rise from 60 to 63 cents under the price changes, and sending postcards will set customers back a little more, too.
The cost of sending a postcard domestically is ticking up from 48 cents to 51 cents, while the price of sending international postcards and letters will go from $1.45 a piece to $1.50.
The USPS has raised stamp prices by 32% since early 2019 in an effort to boost its revenue as mail volume continues to fall. Last year, first-class mail volume dropped to its lowest level in 50 years and is down by more than 50% since 2006.
Stampflation
Kevin Yoder, executive director of the advocacy group Keep US Posted and a former Republican congressman from Kansas, said that each time rates go up, mail volumes go down at a faster rate than projected.
“With three unprecedented postage hikes in 12 months, USPS has kicked off runaway ‘stampflation’ like the U.S. has never seen, and it’s making the situation worse,” Yoder said in a statement.
In 2022, USPS handled 127.3 billion pieces of mail compared to the high of 213.1 billion in 2006, data shows.
The Postal Service first started selling Forever stamps in 2007, when they cost 41 cents.
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LOL..to cover the pensions of the retiring mail people, I’m sure.