WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) request to raise the price of first-class postage stamps to 73 cents from 68 cents in effect July 14 has been approved, regulators said on Friday.
The plan, announced in April and approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, would increase overall postal prices by 7.8%. This month, USPS said it was also seeking price increases of an average of 25% for high-volume shippers to send regional packages through its Parcel Select service.
In November, the USPS reported an annual net loss of $6.5 billion as first-class mail volume fell to its lowest level since 1968. Stamp prices have risen 36% over the past four years since the start of 2019, when they were 50 cents.
The USPS is aggressively raising stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to address projected losses of $160 billion over the next decade.
USPS said it expects its “new pricing policy to generate $44 billion in additional revenue” by 2031.
First-class mail volume fell 6.1% in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2023, to 46 billion pieces and is down 53% since 2006, the lowest level since 1968.
First Class mail, used by most people to send letters and pay bills, is the most profitable class of mail, accounting for $24.5 billion, or 31% of USPS revenue in 2023.
In April 2022, US President Joe Biden signed legislation providing the USPS with approximately $50 billion in financial assistance over a decade.
Earlier this month, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to pause planned further 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 delivery.
DeJoy said the change would delay USPS cost savings from $133 million to $177 million. Sen. Gary Peters said he will continue to press DeJoy and the USPS board of governors to “come up with a plan that doesn’t interfere with critical postal service.”