Overview
- USPS, which filed notice Thursday with the Postal Regulatory Commission, proposed lifting the First‑Class Forever stamp to 82 cents and raising overall mailing prices about 4.8% starting July 12 if approved.
- The filing covers letters, metered mail, and postcards, with examples that include metered letters rising from 74 to 78 cents and domestic postcards from 61 to 65 cents, and the PRC must sign off before any change takes effect.
- Following this week’s PRC decision, USPS will add a temporary 8% surcharge on Priority Mail and other packages beginning April 26 through January 17 to offset higher transportation and fuel costs.
- The commission also approved suspending employer pension contributions starting Friday, a cash‑saving step that conserves about $200 million every two weeks, or $2.5 billion through September 30.
- USPS reports long‑running losses as first‑class volume falls, totaling about $118 billion since 2007, and it is pursuing new revenue sources such as a Reuters‑reported Amazon deal for at least 1 billion packages a year.