Using Fewer & Fewer Stamps – So the Price Keeps Going Up & Up

If there was a quiz about this subject, most all of us would fail.  And it is something we all used to know and pay more attention to.

Want to try to stump someone?  Ask them the price of a U.S. first class postage stamp.

And the answer is different today than it would have been before yesterday.

The answer is forever, right. That’s what it says on stamps now. And has for years.

But as of yesterday, the cost of mailing a letter in the U. S. went from 63 cents to 66 cents.

The second postage cost increase in 2023, and the fifth increase since 2019.

The reason?

Operating expenses fueled by inflation.

Not to mention that as a country we use the Post Office less and less all the time.  Not just citizens paying bills, or sending letters or post cards, but companies rely on the postal service less also.

FYI, if instead of snapping a photo on your phone and texting it to whomever, wherever, if you were to buy a post card and write something clever like “Wish you were here” and mail it as of yesterday, the stamp for a postcard has increased too.  From 48 cents to 51 cents.

The U.S. Postal Service has a ten year plan to increase revenue and stop operating at a loss. USPS had a $1 Billion net loss in the 1^st quarter of this year alone, but that is actually good news. Last year the loss was $1.5 Billion.

Oh, and just in case you were thinking it, it is a federal crime to reuse a stamp. It can get you up to one year in prison.

And as they say at the post office.

Keep those cards and letters coming in.