USPS wants to hike stamp prices in July. It’s just the beginning of a plan to raise prices at ‘an uncomfortable rate.’ – USA Today

USPS wants to hike stamp prices in July. It’s just the beginning of a plan to raise prices at ‘an uncomfortable rate.’

Mike Snider

USA TODAY

The U.S. Postal Service is expected to increase prices in July, raising the cost of a Forever stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents. And that may not be the only price hike in the near future.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said May 5 he expected the Postal Service to continue to raise prices “at an uncomfortable rate” until the agency becomes self-sufficient.

The USPS proposed the rate increase a month ago, on April 6, the same day President Biden signed the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, legislation meant to bolster the agency, which has faced financial challenges as well as stiff competition from shippers such FedEx and UPS.

In addition to ensuring six-day-a-week mail delivery, the new law is expected to save the agency an estimated $50 billion over the next decade, DeJoy said. That comes primarily from ending the requirement of the USPS paying into a health benefit fund for current and retired employees for 75 years into the future. Retired postal employees now are required to enroll in Medicare.

A general view of boxes used to sort packages for delivery during a media tour of a United States Postal Service package support annex on Nov. 4, 2021 in La Vergne, Tennessee.

But the new law alone won’t bring solvency to the agency, which has suffered 14 straight years of net losses. The USPS still expects to lose $110 billion over the next 10 years, DeJoy said while speaking to a Postal Service board of governors meeting.

Additional price increases are needed, DeJoy said, “until such time as we have accomplished our objective of projecting a trajectory that shows us becoming self-sustaining – as required by law.”