WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 18, 2024) – Keep US Posted — a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — is reminding consumers that the U.S. Postal Service is raising the price of stamps again as of Sunday, January 21, and cautioning that the rate hikes are just driving down mail volume and leading to more losses for USPS. Sunday’s increase will be the fifth one in just two years — the most mailing rates have increased during the U.S. Postal Service’s 248-year history.
Prices will increase on Sunday across all First-Class mail products by 2 percent. The cost of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp will rise from 66 cents to 68 cents. Stamp prices just increased in July from 63 cents to 66 cents, after going from 60 cents to 63 cents in January 2023. Rates for catalogs and newspapers will see increases well above the average, which harms consumers and businesses alike.
“These unprecedented postage increases are just driving down mail volume and fueling more fiscal instability for USPS,” said Keep US Posted Executive Director Kevin Yoder. “The Postal Service just posted an operating loss of $6.5 billion in 2023 and is projecting a $6.3 billion loss in 2024 — all after receiving a $120 billion windfall from Congress in 2022. It’s time for Louis DeJoy to abandon the Delivering for America plan’s twice-annual stamp increases. Traditional mail is still the biggest money-maker for USPS, and each rate hike just drives more mail from the system.”
When announcing its $6.5 billion loss for fiscal year 2023 in November, USPS leadership noted that mail volume slipped by nearly 9 percent, while package volume decreased by over 2 percent. The Delivering for America plan — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s sweeping overhaul of USPS — promised USPS would break even in 2023, and DeJoy even expressed disappointment with the 2023 financial results.
Representatives Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Sam Graves (R-MO) have teamed up with other members of Congress to send a letter on Monday to the USPS Board of Governors urging them to delay any further stamp increases this year until the effects of the twice-a-year increases on mail volume and revenue are better understood.
Yoder continued, “Congress must act before taxpayers have to bail out USPS. We applaud Congressmen Cleaver and Graves for taking the lead to confront these destructive stamp hikes while there is still time.”