How much is a forever stamp now

New York CNN Business  — 

Maybe this counts as good news in a time of painful price increases for necessities such as food, fuel and housing: The cost of a US postage stamp just increased by a mere 2 cents.

That raises the cost of mailing a first-class letter by 3.4%, to 60 cents — unless you still have a bunch of “forever stamps” that you bought at a lower price. A price hike that modest seems almost quaint given that overall consumer prices are up 9.1% year over year, the fastest pace in 40 years.

First-Class mail prices are up about 6.5% overall following the latest hikes. Metered mail went up 4 cents, or 7.5%; sending a postcard (remember those?) now costs 44 cents, a 10-cent hike; and overweight First-Class mail will increase 20%, to 24 cents per additional ounce.

“As inflation and increased operating expenses continue, these price adjustments will help with the implementation of the Delivering for America plan,” the USPS said in a statement, referring to its plan to invest $40 billion in upgrading its infrastructure. “With the new prices, the Postal Service will continue to provide the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and offer a great value in shipping.”

But the 2-cent hike won’t bring in much more money for the USPS for one reason: Americans aren’t sending nearly as much mail as they used to. As a result, First-Class mail in general — and individual letters in particular — are far less important to the Postal Services’ revenue stream now than in years past.

Last year 13.5 billion letters were mailed out. But that comes to only about two pieces of mail per US household per week.

People have found other ways to communicate — and to pay their bills — than putting a stamp and an envelope and dropping it in a mailbox. The number of individual letters mailed last year fell 8.4% from the year prior, and is down 45% from where it was just a decade ago, in fiscal year 2011.

The number of individual First-Class letters doesn’t count most of the other mail jamming your mailbox, such as bank statements and other direct mail from businesses. There were 35.6 billion of those last year, or more than five per household per week.

Then there were another 41 million pieces of what the USPS generously calls “marketing mail,” and most consumers know as junk mail.

Even though senders of that marketing mail pay a much lower rate, the sector brought in $9 billion last year, compared to only $7.4 billion for individual First-Class letters, and $13.5 billion for presorted First-Class mail.

All in, First-Class mail accounted for only 30% of Postal Service revenue last year, with individual letters tallying less than 10%. As recently as 2011, about half of postal revenue came from First-Class mail, with 17% from individual letters.

Parcels and packages are where the Postal Service is really making its money today. The USPS handles final delivery of many packages shipped by Amazon (AMZN) and other online retailers, with items delivered in bulk to the post office nearest to the buyer’s home.

The U.S. Postal Service blames inflation and increased operating expenses as the reason for a list of price hikes.

INDIANAPOLIS — It's about to cost a little bit more to mail a letter in the United States. 

Starting Sunday, the price of a first-class mail "Forever" stamp will cost 60 cents. That's a two-cent increase over the current price of 58 cents. 

The prices for domestic postcards and sending an international letter are also going up. The price of postage for a postcard is increasing from 40 to 44 cents, while mailing a one-ounce letter internationally will now cost $1.40, a 10-cent increase from the current cost.

(NOTE: The video in the player above is from a January 2022 report on a shortage of workers at the U.S. Postal Service.)

Other price increases taking effect July 10 include the cost of Certified Mail, renting a Post Office Box, fees associated with purchasing a money order and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item. 

The U.S. Postal Service blames inflation and increased operating expenses as the reason for the price hike. 

In May, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Americans should get used to "uncomfortable" price hikes in the coming years as the USPS works to become self-sufficient.

“I believe we have been severely damaged by at least 10 years of a defective pricing model which cannot be satisfied by one or two annual price increases, especially in this inflationary environment,” he said at a Board of Governors meeting.

At that meeting, the postal service reported a loss of about $1.7 billion for the latest quarter.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

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