Stamp prices are going up again. Here's when its happening, why and how much.
The U.S. Postal Service will raise the price of postage stamps starting Sunday — the agency's second price hike this year — as fewer people use first-class mail.
The cost of a Forever stamp will go up by 5 cents to 73 cents. The price of Forever stamps have slowly increased since it was first introduced in 2007, when it cost 41 cents. The previous increase was in January when the Postal Service raised first-class Forever stamps from 66 cents to 68 cents.
Forever stamps are known to hold their value, covering the first ounce, so customers with previously purchased Forever stamps can still use them after the increase goes into effect. Anyone using non-Forever stamps may need to add additional postage to first-class letters.
The agency is also increasing other postage rates. Mailing a postcard will cost 56 cents, a 3-cent increase, and international letters and postcards will cost $1.65, each jumping in price by 10 cents.
“In light of a decade of sharp declines in marketing mail and first-class mail volume, the Postal Service needs more than an incremental price change to effectively respond to its financial challenges,” David Coleman, spokesperson for the Postal Service, said in a statement.
“The Postal Service is one of the most efficient postal administrations in the world, but volume for domestic first-class mail — our most profitable product — has declined by 52% compared to 2007 and is expected to continue to decline as a result of diversion to digital communications and the increase in online transactions.”
An updated price list can be found on the Postal Service's website.
Historically, the Postal Service has upped the price of stamps three to four times per decade. But in the last three years, postage prices have risen six times. For Forever stamps, prices went up 33% since 2021.
The increases are largely done to combat the agency's financial and operational struggles. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy introduced the Delivering for America plan in March 2021 to try and address the Post Office's challenges.
The 10-year plan includes changing the agency's pricing methodology, streamline delivery operations and rein in pension funding obligations while also investing in its mail carrier workforce.
When the agency increased prices in January it said in a statement that "inflationary pressures on operating expenses continue 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.”
Despite the price hikes, the Postal Service said it remains one of the most affordable in the world. This may partially be due to it's scale. The agency handled a staggering 50% of the world's mail in 2021, making the U.S. the largest domestic mail market in the world, according to a March report by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
“The Postal Service is not immune to the inflationary and regulatory factors impacting stamp prices around the world. … Nevertheless, the agency's price increases for standard domestic letters were not as large as those implemented by many other posts between June 2018 and June 2023,” the report said.
New stamps to debut
The Postal Service also announced it will roll out two new Forever stamps, starting July 22.
One of the first stamps on sale after Sunday's rate increase will honor the late Alex Trebek, the former longtime host of "Jeopardy!"
The stamp features the prompt: "This naturalized U.S. citizen hosted the quiz show ‘Jeopardy!’ for 37 seasons." Underneath is the answer, "Who is Alex Trebek?" The stamps will be issued as a set of 20, formatted in a square grid to resemble Jeopardy's iconic video monitors. They go on sale July 22, according to the Postal Service.
The second Forever stamp, available at the end of July, will memorialize baseball legend Henry "Hank" Aaron.
The stamp is a portrait of the baseball player in his batting stance wearing an Atlanta Braves uniform and based on a 1986 photo. It will be issued in a set of 20.
