The United States Postal Service (USPS) will raise postage prices again on Sunday, its second increase in 2024 and tying the record for the largest price hike in history.
Starting Sunday, first-class Forever stamps will cost 73 cents each, up 5 cents from the current 68 cents, or 7 percent. The only other time a 5-cent increase occurred was in January 2019, when first-class stamps went up from 50 cents to 55 cents.
In January 2023, the price of a stamp was 63 cents per stamp, rising to 66 cents in July of the same year, and 68 cents in January 2024.
In April, the USPS announced it had notified the Postal Regulatory Commission of proposed new postage prices, including raising postage rates for international postcards and letters from $1.55 to $1.65.
USPS explained in April that the new rates were “necessary” for the agency’s financial health and that USPS rates remain “among the most affordable in the world.”
“As the mail and delivery market continues to change, these price adjustments are necessary to achieve the financial stability outlined in the organization’s 10-year restructuring plan, Delivering for America,” the USPS said in a statement. Delivering for America is a 10-year restructuring plan unveiled in 2021 that aims to eliminate a projected $160 billion loss.
In 2021, the price of a First Class Mail Forever stamp increased from 55 cents to 58 cents.
But while USPS had expected to break even in 2023 as part of its plan, it reported a net loss of $6.5 billion for fiscal 2023. Operating revenues fell $321 million, or 0.4 percent, to $78.2 billion from a year earlier as first-class mail volume fell to the lowest since 1968, the Postal Service said.
The federal agency cited inflationary costs of $2.6 billion and a decline in mail deliveries as reasons for the large loss.
Other rates the USPS will increase this weekend include pay-as-you-go one-ounce letters increasing from 64 cents to 69 cents, domestic postcards increasing from 53 cents to 56 cents, and international postcards and one-ounce letters increasing by 10 cents to $1.65. The surcharge for a single letter will increase by four cents, from 24 cents to 28 cents.
In April, the USPS announced that it would not increase postal box rental fees, but would reduce postal insurance fees for mailing letters by 10%.
Beth Dozier, a spokesperson for the nonprofit watchdog group Keep US Post, told Axios that the group is calling on Congress to introduce legislation to revise the “Delivering for America” plan and reject the twice-yearly postage increases.
Dozier told the outlet that the USPS “will continue to increase postal rates twice a year at rates well above the rate of inflation, slowing mail delivery and worsening its financial crisis.”
FOX Business reached out to the USPS for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox Business’ Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.
