A United States Postal Service (USPS) post office near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on February 5, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Citing a “severe financial crisis,” the U.S. Postal Service on Thursday announced proposed price increases across its postal products, including a 4-cent increase in the price of First Class Mail Forever stamps.
If the increase is approved, starting July 12, first-class stamps will cost 82 cents.
If the agency’s proposal to the Postal Regulatory Commission is approved, the cost of mailing letters and postcards would increase by 4.8%.
The proposal comes weeks after the Postal Service proposed introducing an 8% fuel surcharge on parcel and express deliveries to compensate for rising fuel costs, as well as dire financial conditions during the Iran war.
“The Postal Service is facing a severe financial crisis, and operating costs continue to rise,” the USPS said Thursday.
“The Postal Service is leveraging all available tools, including available regulatory pricing authority, to ensure that we can meet our universal service obligations and continue to serve the American people,” the agency said in a press release.
The agency also announced it would suspend employer contributions to Federal Employees’ Retirement System pensions to allow payroll, supplier payments and mail delivery to continue.
Postmaster General David Steiner told the House Oversight Committee in March that at current spending levels, the USPS would run out of cash “within 12 months.”
Despite being a federal corporation, the Postal Service receives no tax dollars and instead relies on the sale of its products and services to fund its operations.
The sharp decline in mail volume is one of the reasons for the fiscal strain. Steiner said at a March hearing that since 2006, the Postal Service’s mail volume has declined by more than 104 billion pieces a year, which equates to about $81 billion at the current stamp price of 78 cents.
