How much is a regular us stamp

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.”

A postman drives a United States Postal service (USPS) mail delivery truck through Washington, DC on August 13, 2021.

Biden signs US Postal Service reform bill into law

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.

WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said Friday it wants to raise the price of first-class Forever mail stamps from 60 to 63 cents to account for inflationary costs.

USPS filed notice of the proposed hike with the Postal Regulatory Commission and wants the increase to take effect Jan. 22. U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in August that inflation would cause USPS costs to exceed its 2022 budget plan "by well over $1 billion."

There will be no change to the single-piece letter and flat additional-ounce price but other prices will rise including the cost of an international letter by five cents to $1.45.

Overall first-class mail prices will rise 4.2%, USPS said.

DeJoy has said USPS for years had failed to charge enough for package and mail delivery.

Struggling with diminishing mail volumes despite having to deliver to a growing number of addresses, the USPS reported net losses of more than $90 billion since 2007 until August when it booked a onetime, non-cash benefit of $59.6 billion after President Joe Biden signed financial relief legislation into law.

DeJoy released a March 2021 reform plan that aims to eliminate $160 billion in predicted losses over the next decade.

DeJoy said despite reforms losses would still reach $60 billion to $70 billion over the next 10 years -- and USPS must cut $35 to $40 billion in operating costs.

"I've got to use pricing," DeJoy said in July, adding he thinks mailers "got a deal for the last 10 years and we're charging them."

USPS raised prices in July of a first-class stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents after hiking stamps by 3 cents in August 2021.

USPS is receiving $3 billion from Congress to boost electric vehicle and charging purchases. In July, USPS said it plans to buy at least 25,000 EVs. read more

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