THE United States Postal Service has made a new stamp announcement weeks after a price increase.
USPS has been operating for 250 years as of this month, and decided to bring something new to consumers.
USPS has made a new stamp announcement (stock image)[/caption]
There’s a sheet of 20 new Forever stamps available to purchase[/caption]
As of July 23, Americans can get 20 new Forever stamps and a 32-page prestige booklet to commemorate the multi-century-long history of the federal agency and “celebrate the cultural importance of U.S. stamps,” per a news release.
The fresh stamps were created by renowned Chicago-based artist and cartoonist Chris Ware, who also co-designed the pane with Antonio Alcalá, an art director with USPS.
Ware created the “250 Years of Delivering” design, which effectively follows a USPS mail carrier making deliveries in a busy city throughout the different seasons of the year.
He also hid several homages to USPS in the city, like a statue of a pony express rider and a variety of vehicles and collection boxes from the service.
A stamp collector examining his stamps can also be seen in the art.
For the entire 20-stamp commemorative booklet, the cost is $15.60.
This reflects the July 13 increase to 78 cents from 73 cents for individual Forever stamps.
It’s about a 7.4% bump, and there are more increases for other items that were approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission after an April notice from USPS.
One-ounce letters, for example, are up five cents as well from 73 to 78, along with other letters from 69 to 74.
An additional ounce price increase for single letters also went from 28 cents to 29 cents.
Domestic postcards are now 61 cents instead of 56, international postcards are $1.70 instead of $1.65, and international letters are $1.70 as opposed to $1.65.
The increases for USPS products were critiqued by several Americans in social media posts this month.
“I tried. I tried so hard @USPS to keep sending snail mail during the year and Christmas cards and whatnot,” a longtime consumer, Amanda, noted on X.
“But I can’t anymore…78 cents a stamp with 4 more raises coming in the next two years. Saddddddd.”
USPS Price Hikes
- Forever Stamps: 73 cents to 78 cents
- Domestic postcards: 56 cents to 62 cents
- Letters (metered 1-ounce): 69 cents to 74 cents
- Letters (1-ounce): 73 cents to 78 cents
- Additional-ounce price for single letters: 28 cents to 29 cents
- International postcards: $1.65 to $1.70
- International letter (1-ounce): $1.65 to $1.70
MORE COMING
Amanda is right about the additional raised prices, as USPS detailed plans for increases twice in 2026 and 2027.
Each takes place in January and July of the respective years, according to a document submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission in September.
Someone else blasted the July 13 increase as “unjustified” because the “agency does not offer daily delivery, wait long line at post office, rude & abrupt customers service etc.”
“Mismanagement of agency, find capable ppl to work,” they continued.
NECESSARY MOVE?
Even so, USPS argued in its notice that the increases, with this being the 20th since 2000, are “needed to achieve the financial stability sought by the organization’s Delivering for America 10-year plan.”
Delivering for America, which began in 2021, is an initiative that seeks to update and modernize USPS for better service and financial health.
USPS saw a $9.5 billion net loss in 2024, and is looking to invest around $40 billion in technology, infrastructure, and more to create on-time delivery for around 95% of packages.
It also emphasized that despite combating inflation and increased costs for labor, fuel, and utilities in recent years, it remains “among the most affordable” mail carriers in the world.
Thousands of Americans were told by USPS earlier this month to “not click” a warning message or risk draining their bank accounts.
USPS also recently held Walmart and Amazon packages “hostage” for a crucial reason.
