Postal Service Proposes Hiking First Class Stamp To 46 Cents

Facing dire financial issues, the United States Postal Service has proposed raising the cost of a first class stamp another 2 cents to 46 cents. According to the Wall Street Journal, "If approved by regulators, the increase to 46 cents for a standard letter would go into effect Jan. 2 and be the seventh increase in a decade. As of Jan. 7, 2001, the cost of a stamp was 34 cents."

The USPS says that with "plummeting mail volume traced to the recession and increased use of the Internet," a deficit of almost $7 billion is projected for the next fiscal year (which starts October 1). Increases, which include also raising postcard prices from 28 cents to 30 cents, would "raise about $2.3 billion for the first nine months of calendar 2011," the WSJ reports. And Postmaster General John Poter said, "There is no one single solution to the dire financial situation that the Postal Service faces. These proposed rate adjustments are moderate and part of a fair and balanced approach to ensuring mail service for all Americans well into the future."

Another idea being kicked around is reducing mail service from six days to five days a week, which would save $3 billion. Netflix chief service officer Andrew Rendich is for reducing service because, "Big rate increases will absolutely squash business and will absolutely slow growth for a company like Netflix," but the Postal Regulatory Commission chairwoman Ruth Goldway says they'll be taking a close look, "The long-term future of the Postal Service may be limited by their interest in reducing service today."

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By Jen Chung in News on July 6, 2010 3:36 PM

Comments [rss]

Jen S

And for those of us who don't care when it arrives, how much is a second class stamp?

Spirit of 76

It's one thing if it was just the price of a stamp. But the price hikes will be across the board. Have you seen the prices for Priority Mail lately? Parcel Post is almost as expensive, despite being 2-3x slower, and the cost is nowhere near competitive with UPS or Fedex. If either of those companies started targeting consumers in addition to commercial customers, USPS would lose almost all of their package business. In 25 years, medium size PO boxes have gone up from less than $40 per year to $140 and probably will head upwards of $150 with this next hike. Do you know anything else that has gone up in price by over 250% in that same period?

ANGRYGOD11

The subject is the price of stamps.

But, I wonder about postal package service speed. I always print mailing labels with postal barcodes and everything works quickly. I see people scrawl out chicken scratch on packages and know not only are they slowing their packages, but also raising costs and slowing the entire system down.

Spirit of 76

The subject is the price of stamps only if you don't read any further than the linked article. If you follow any other news sources, you'll know that they've proposed increases on every service, including parcels, magazines, bulk mail and postcards. The increases average 5.4%, which far surpasses the 0.6% annual rate of inflation.

As for your other point, while you're right that people refusing to follow addressing guidelines can slow service, the fact is that the USPS can be staggeringly incompetent even given ideal conditions. I've had merchandise with computer-generated Priority Mail labels come from 120 miles away and had tracking information show it going through Mobile, Alabama. That's a hell of a detour from NY to AL back to NY.

ANGRYGOD11

When tracking packages with the postal service website, I've seen routing logical only to a madman.

However, up until recently they covered their own costs and provided pretty good, and far cheaper, service compared to much smaller European postal services (Closed for lunch, come back in 2 hours, if we aren't on strike, again). And don't get me started on Latin American postal "service".

ANGRYGOD11

Watch how everyone bitches and whines about postage and remember: WHAT CAN YOU GET FOR 46 CENTS? It seems a hand delivered letter across one of the biggest countries on Earth doesn't count.