the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of mailing services price changes to take effect July 9, 2023. The new rates include a three-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 63 cents to 66 cents.
If favorably reviewed by the Commission, the proposed increases will raise First-Class Mail prices approximately 5.4 percent to offset the rise in inflation. The price changes have been approved by the Governors of the U.S. Postal Service.
The price for 1-ounce metered mail will increase to 63 cents, and the price to send a domestic postcard will increase to 51 cents. A 1-ounce letter mailed to another country would increase to $1.50. There will be no change to the single-piece letter and flat additional-ounce price, which remains at 24 cents. The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Certified Mail, Post Office Box rental fees, money order fees and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item.
The proposed Mailing Services price changes include:
| Product | Current Prices | Planned Prices |
|---|---|---|
| Letters (1 oz.) | 63 cents | 66 cents |
| Letters (metered 1 oz.) | 60 cents | 63 cents |
| Domestic Postcards | 48 cents | 51 cents |
| International Postcards | $1.45 | $1.50 |
| International Letter (1 oz.) | $1.45 | $1.50 |
The U.S. Postal Service plans to increase the price of a stamp to $0.66 in July, part of a 5.4% overall increase from current First-Class mail rates.
The hike is the full amount authorized under the mailing agency’s rate-setting authority and would mark the latest of several significant increases under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. USPS said the change was necessary to keep pace with inflation, though DeJoy has previously suggested the increases would continue to allow the Postal Service to reach a financial break-even point.
The Postal Service will also increase rates for packages and marketing mail by 5.4%. Periodicals will see an 8.1% spike.
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 prices of the U.S. Postal Service remain among the most affordable in the world.
The PRC will review the changes before they are scheduled to take effect. The complete Postal Service price filing, with prices for all products, can be found on the PRC website under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. The Mailing Services filing is Docket No. R2023-2. The price tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.
Run by a bunch of morons.
Service declines, chases customers away… raises rates..
I pay all my bills online since the PO seems to be good at losing important mail
How come they dont have electric vehicles.. i thought that was Bidens plan
The 3-cent increase was the total price of a first-class stamp within my memory!
Increasing the cost of mailing periodicals by 8.1% could be a death blow to magazines that are already struggling.
They should just charge more for ads, catalogs, and junk mail so people would receive fewer and strain the system less.
I write regularly to a friend in Canada. To pay $1.50 to send a postcard there is bizarre. But the U.S. has an arrangement whereby you can mail up to 2 ounces for that price, whereas for other countries (not sure about Mexico), going over 1 ounce costs more. That’s assuming you have 2 ounces’ worth of letter to send.