Changes are coming to the U.S. Postal Service, and they might not be entirely welcomed by consumers, who will pay more for stamps starting in late August while potentially facing longer delivery times for mail.
A proposed increase in stamp prices was approved Monday by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the federal regulator that oversees the postal agency, which found that the higher prices are in line with postal regulations. The USPS said in May that it planned to raise first-class stamps to 58 cents from its current 55 cents. The higher price will kick in on August 29, the USPS told CBS MoneyWatch.
Costlier postage is part of Postmaster Louis DeJoy’s plan to stanch billions of dollars in losses and put the agency on the path to profitability. But another part of DeJoy’s plan— an effort to slow delivery standards — sparked a host of concerns from the PRC, which pointed out that about 4 out of 10 pieces of mail would take two additional days to reach their recipients.