USPS’s Stamp Prices Rise to 58 Cents a Letter on Aug. 29

     As electronic modes of communication have increasingly replaced letter writing, bill paying, and other forms of “snail mail,” Americans have sent 47% fewer single-pieces of first-class mail in the past 10 years: a transition that resulted in the loss of billions of dollars for the United States Post Office (USPS).

     To staunch the flow of the mail agency’s tremendous losses and put the USPS back on the path to profitability, Postmaster Louis DeJoy announced on Friday that raising postage rates, from their current 55 cents per letter to 58 cents on Aug. 29, is part of his 10-year plan to increase the revenue of the USPS. In addition, other mail prices will rise by almost 7%.

     Even with the latest price increases, the USPS will continue to have "some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world," DeJoy said.

     While postage stamp prices are rising, many reports that the agency’s on-time delivery rates have worsened in recent months.

     For instance, although the agency previously promised delivery within three days to anywhere in the Continental U.S., from January to March 2021, 1 in 5 pieces of mail across the U.S. were reportedly delivered late to households and businesses.

     "To come out and say you're going to ask for close to a 7% hike in that atmosphere, and at a time when there is fragility in the economy, that is, I think, going to do more harm than good,” said Paul Steidler, a USPS expert.