Stamps are getting more expensive.
The U.S. Postal Service announced its new prices for July, which include a 5-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp.
The rate to mail a 1-ounce letter will cost 73 cents, up from 68 cents.
In a press conference, Sen. Richard Blumenthal blasted the postal price hikes.
“Americans are about to see a really excessive and unacceptable increase in postal rates that will have a ripple effect economically throughout the country,” Blumenthal said at a briefing outside a post office, according to local outlet CT News Junkie.
“This rate increase is the sixth increase in postal rates in just three years. An increase overall of 23% in just three years. That is about 200% above the rate of inflation or more. And the effects will be on all of the businesses as well as consumers who use the traditional postal service,” Blumenthal said.
The postal price hikes are set to take effect July 14.
The latest price increase for stamps sticks to the schedule USPS announced in September 2021, which is for cost adjustments to be made twice every year — once in January and once in July.
The financial state of the USPS has long been an issue in need of addressing, with the Government Accountability Office having the organization on its High Risk List since 2002. The 2022 Postal Service Reform Act was passed to help strengthen the financial future of the USPS, and price increases like these are a direct result of those efforts.
Despite the increases, USPS maintains that its “prices remain among the most affordable in the world.”
Here is a full breakdown of USPS’ updated prices:
