Politics & Government

U.S. Postal Service Rate Hikes Go Into Effect

The U.S. Postal Service announced the cost of a first-class stamp jumps to 49 cents.

The next time you buy stamps at the post office, be prepared to pay a few cents more. 

The cost to mail a first-class single-piece letter jumped from 46 cents to 49 cents on Sunday. That means a book of 20 stamps went from from $9.20 to $9.80.

Find out what's happening in Maplewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But if you've got a stock of Forever Stamps stashed away, you're in good shape. 

The U.S. Post Office's 3-cent increase is the largest hike for consumer postage in more than a decade.

Find out what's happening in Maplewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The cost of mailing a post card will also go up to 34 cents, a 1-cent increase.

The increase will help the budget deficit that the USPS has been dealing with in recent years.

An announcement on the USPS website said, "The Governors of the Postal Service voted Sept. 24 to seek price increases above the typical annual increases associated with changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)."

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 26, 2014 include:

  • Letters (1 oz.) — 3-cent increase to 49 cents
  • Letters additional ounces —  1-cent increase to 21 cents
  • Letters to all international destinations (1 oz.) — $1.15
  • Postcards — 1-cent increase to 34 cents


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here