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The plan, announced in April and approved by the Postal
Regulatory Commission in late May, raises overall mailing
services product prices by 7.8%. So-called Forever first-class
stamps can be used at any time - even after prices rise.
The U.S. Postal Service in November reported a $6.5 billion
yearly net loss as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume
since 1968. On Sunday, stamp prices will have risen 46% over
2019 when they were 50 cents.
USPS has been aggressively hiking stamp prices as it has lost
over $100 billion since 2007. It is in the middle of a 10-year
restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to eliminate $160
billion in projected losses over the next decade.
USPS is the world’s largest delivery operation, handling 123
billion pieces of mail and packages annually. It says it
accounts for 44% of the world’s mail.
The agency has said it expects its "new pricing policy to
generate $44 billion in additional revenue" by 2031.
First-class mail volume, which fell 6.1% in the 12 months ending
Sept. 30, 2023, to 46 billion pieces, is down 53% since 2006 -
to the lowest volume since 1968. It is used by most people to
send letters and pay bills and is the highest revenue-generating
mail class, accounting for $24.5 billion, or 31% of USPS 2023
revenue.
In April 2022, U.S. President Joe Bidensigned legislation
providing USPS with about $50 billion in financial relief over a
decade.
In May, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to pause
further planned consolidation of the Postal Service's processing
network until at least January after a bipartisan group of
senators raised concerns about the impact on mail deliveries.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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