Start licking your pennies goodbye.
The US Postal Service wants to — yet again — raise the price of stamps.
The federal agency requested Tuesday to mark up the price of a first-class stamp from 68 cents to 73 cents.
“Forever” stamps have cost 68 cents only since January, when the USPS last jacked up the price from 66 cents.
The response to the proposed changes was swift — and unhappy.
“Just like everything else, the price goes up the service goes down. This country is in the s–tter,” wrote one Facebook user.
“If USPS plans to raise prices, they need to spend that extra money to find all those missing packages that they ‘delivered to address’ that never actually got delivered or was ‘lost in transit,’” seethed another.
One simply wrote: “Thanks Biden.”
The newest round of proposed adjustments also includes a 3-cent jump for domestic postcards, a 10-cent jump for international letters, as well as unspecified hikes for certified mail and money order fees.
Although seemingly minuscule, the extra nickels and pennies would raise mailing services product prices by as much as 7.8 percent.
If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the new prices would take effect on July 14, 2024.
The requested hikes come just months after the USPS last raised prices across its system.
US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously warned postal customers to get used to “uncomfortable” rate hikes as the Postal Service seeks to become self-sufficient. He said price increases were overdue after “at least 10 years of a defective pricing model.”
USPS in November reported a $6.5 billion net loss for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 as first-class mail fell to the lowest volume since 1968.
Stamp prices have jumped 36% over the last fours — in 2019, a first-class stamp cost just 50 cents.
With Post wires
