In just one month, Postal Service to raise price of Forever first-class stamps to 68 cents

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Published 4:30 a.m. ET Dec. 21, 2023 | Updated 4:30 a.m. ET Dec. 21, 2023


You don't have forever to get Forever stamps at their current 66-cent price. The U.S. Postal Service, on Jan. 21, 2024, will raise the cost of Forever stamps from 66 cents to 68. The price hike is part of a rate increase proposed in October and approved by Postal Service governors in November.

Other services will see an increase, too, including Priority Mail (a 5.7% increase), Priority Mail Express (up 5.9%), and USPS Ground Advantage (a 5.4% increase).

The increases are part of the USPS's 10-year Delivering for America plan, enacted in 2021 by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, which was "absolutely necessary to put the Postal Service on the path to service excellence and financial stability," he told a U.S. House committee in May 2023.

The upcoming increase in the price of first-class Forever stamps will be the fifth increase under the plan. When introduced in 2007, the stamps cost 41 cents. Remember, any Forever stamp you buy is good for sending mail "forever," so a 66-cent stamp bought now can be used next month when the USPS starts charging 68 cents for them.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/21/forever-stamps-cost-increase-jan-21-usps-plan/71975253007/

[dalton99a]

1. What is the Postmaster General doing about the mail theft epidemic?

https://democraticunderground.com/100218513859

[BumRushDaShow]

2. This is what they were doing in Atlanta earlier this year

and they are apparently rolling this out (am guessing in phases) nationwide.

[Traildogbob]

3. I have

Heard a little about that. ALL scammers need to be aggressively sought out.
I am old school, still pay bills by check.
I can not trust my bank account number to be accessed. Just terrifies me to have that out there available for hackers.
I know, lots of folks gonna come after me, but I have little trust.
Lots of Wells Fargo’s out there.
But these new mail theft things make me just as nervous.
Life was less stressful when I was young and had no money to get stolen, owned nothing and left the Navy with a car full of stuff and came to the mountains. Empty handed.
But with DeJoy and the most critical election ever coming, And his previous antics, I would like to see Joe put a team on this.

[Rebl2]

4. I had a piece of

mail from Center for Medicare that was post marked NOV. 13 and I received it DEC. 13. So disgusted. I have mail that should have been in my PO BOX Monday the 18th and as of today, still haven’t received it. Got yesterday’s mail and TUE. mail, just not Monday’s mail. It’s probably under some machine at the processing center.
My husband worked over thirty years at the PO and worked as an ET for many of those years on those machines. Almost every day he would get down on the floor and clean out from underneath the machines-not his job by the way—because others who were supposed to be doing that were to damn lazy to do so. He cared enough about the mail that people were expecting he would do that whether or not it was his job.
Well, that’s my rant for the day.

[question everything]

5. I don't mind as long as they do not lose my letters

I always put more than one envelope in the slot of the post office to know that if one is accepted the rest should be.

Yes, I use snail mail for my payments. They all want automatic payments. No way.

[PSPS]

6. Door-to-door letter delivery nationwide for 68 cents is still an unbeatable bargain. "Cheap at twice the price"

[fantase56]

7. this

[eggplant]

12. I came here to say this.

[Oopsie Daisy]

13. An equivalent "first class" stamp in the UK costs £1.25 *

* that would convert to approximately $1.59

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/23813928.much-first-class-stamp-cost-ahead-october-hike/

[PortTack]

14. Agree..... if the right that want to kill the USPS had their way it would be $6.80 not .68

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

8. 68p is still a bargain to have

Someone pick up your mail and deliver it anywhere in the US.

[Wonder Why]

9. Postal rates over time:

[maxsolomon]

10. Oh well.

Less mail, same expenses, price has to rise.

[truthisfreedom]

11. Eventually shipping physical objects will achieve parity

With 3d printing.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. Automatic payments are wonderful.

Especially since I travel a fair amount. I don't have to worry that a bill is paid on time.

I also don't always receive my bills, as I have an incredibly incompetent carrier. Once again, today, I got something intended for someone else at "1021 different street rather than 1021 my street. Cursing the carrier, I did bring that piece of mail to the other person's house, fortunately only a few blocks from me. It was some kind of pills. No, I didn't open the envelope to see exactly what, but I kept on thinking, "These are probably pills this person needs right now."

Forever stamps are wonderful, and I've been buying them from the beginning. I don't use very many stamps over time, but it's always nice to have some of them around.

And yes, our postage, our cost of mailing, is far less than anywhere else.