The retail price of a stamp will increase from 58 to 60 cents on Sunday, July 10. Prices for First-Class Mail Forever stamps, metered mail rates, postcards, and international letters will also go up; the last increase was in August 2021.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, the mailing services price increase is generally based on the consumer price index to help the postal service maintain competitiveness in the market.The average change in First-Class mail rates – metered one-ounce letters from 53 to 57 cents, domestic postcards from 40 to 44 cents and international letters from $1.30 to $1.40 – is approximately 6.5 %, which the USPS said is lower than the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual inflation rate of 7.9% as of the end of February.
Congress has implemented the Delivering for America plan, a $40 billion investment in core Postal Service infrastructure over the next ten years, and these price adjustments will reportedly help fund it.
Higher-end services are also increasing, including:
● Certified Mail fee: from $3.75 to $4
● Return Receipt (hard copy) cost: from $3.05 to $3.25
● Return Receipt (electronic) cost: from $1.85 to $2.00
Earlier this year there were rate increases on important shipping services like Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, Parcel Select, Parcel Ground Return and USPS Retail Ground and international Priority Mail products, price based on weight.
