USPS stamp prices increase starting Sunday
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The United States Postal Service is raising the price of stamps Jan. 22. Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The price of postage stamps increases Sunday for the third time in nearly 17 months. Costs to send a letter by certified mail and insure packages will also increase.
Why it matters: Inflation has pushed prices higher on just about everything and the U.S. Postal Service says the first-class mail increase of about 4.2% will “offset the rise in inflation.”
- Effective Jan. 22, USPS will also increase money order fees and rental fees for P.O. boxes.
Postage price increases
Details: With the new rates, postage for a 1-ounce letter is 63 cents, up from 60 cents.
- Metered 1-ounce letters are 60 cents, up from 57 cents.
- Postcards sent domestically are 48 cents, up from 44 cents.
- International postcards and 1-ounce letters are $1.45, a 5-cent increase.
- The certified mail fee, which is in addition to postage and other fees, increases from $4 to $4.15. The fee with an adult signature increases 45 cents from $10.35 to $10.80.
Forever stamp price increase
Flashback: The Postal Service first started selling Forever stamps in 2007, when they cost 41 cents.
- Since 2011, all first-class commemorative stamps have been issued as Forever stamps, according to the USPS website.
- In August 2021, stamps increased from 55 to 58 cents.
- In July 2022, stamp prices went from 58 to 60 cents.
Our thought bubble: Forever stamps help lock in current prices to avoid feeling the impact of rate increases.
- Someone with the original 2007 Forever stamps is saving 22 cents with every letter they mail after Sunday.
- And if you still have 2018 Forever stamps that cost 50 cents each, you'll save 13 cents with the old stamps.
Stamp prices in the future
What’s next: More price increases are expected as part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's 10-year Delivering for America plan "to achieve financial sustainability."
What they’re saying: "In less than a decade, Americans could be paying well over $1 to mail a single letter,” Kevin Yoder, executive director of the advocacy group Keep US Posted and a former congressman, told Axios.
- “The mailing industry needs to be prepared for continued use of our authority to raise prices on market dominant products at an uncomfortable rate,” DeJoy said at the May Postal Service Board of Governors meeting.
- Jason Dies, an executive vice president at Pitney Bowes, said costs are also increasing for other carriers and that the increases will impact consumers if businesses don’t change their current shipping processes.
- “Consumers are going to see higher shipping costs or slower delivery options with businesses looking to cut costs trying to maintain free shipping,” Dies told Axios.
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