Postal Service looks to raise first-class stamp to 58 cents

DeJoy said the increases are necessary to “achieve financial sustainability and service excellence” and will allow the postal service to "remain viable and competitive and offer reliable postal services that are among the most affordable in the world.”

The Washington Post reported that the price hikes also are being accompanied by hundreds of layoffs of “management-level employees.” An email to postal officials seeking confirmation of the layoffs did not receive an immediate response.

This price hike is not going to encourage people to use the post office more.

I hope the price hike does not get approved.

I didn't even know what the current cost was. I buy a book of stamps like every 4 months or more. There's no bills I mail anymore (there used to be one), so I basically only use stamps for birthday cards and other card-worthy occasions. Maybe some random thing beyond the cards, but rarely.

I can absorb the extra 60 cents every 4-5 months. Lol.

Considering what it takes to get that piece of mail across the country in a timely fashion, it’s a bargain. They should be charging $1.00 per stamp at minimum. Stamps dirt cheap, first class dirt cheap. Even Priority Mail is cheap when you again factor what’s happening in terms of transportation and labor. Is it any wonder why they’re losing money?

I still have about 150 Forever stamps. Should cover me for about a decade.

I rarely use stamps. I have forever stamps like...forever. I pay my bills with online banking. It really doesn't matter to me.

What r4 said.

I've always gotten good service from the USPS.

It matters. What's wrong with you people?!

There will be a massive drop in sending Christmas cards this year, which will put the Post Service in even greater debt.

You're lucky! Here in Canada a simple stamp costs over a dollar. I mailed away a birthday card to a friend today and luckily I had some stamps left over from last Christmas.

Here's 58 cents. Now get this letter from the east to the west coast. I'll wait. The postal service is the biggest bargain we're given, but the repulicants want to kill it off, so that same letter will cost $8.00 with a private service. Fuck that.

DeJoyless needs to go in any case!

I call him DeNightmare

Who cares the the cost of a stamp is now, people can just pay their bills online, no need to mail in a payment. Using a stamp is a rarity for me.

Why is DeJoy still there? Shouldn't they have fired his mobby fat ass by now? I'm still getting mail delays of 2-3 weeks for a first class letter. For example, I had a form letter from my insurance company that was dated April 23 that I received on May 13th. Three fucking weeks for a 1 page letter, that is ridiculous!

i use the US Post Office when I order online, if available. I always have had great experience with the USPS. Also, I find their timing to be very fast. I have done experiments on this to see who is faster. USPS is most of the time, even if purchasing priority with other companies. Fed ex fucks up emergency office deliveries all the time. They are not better at logistic really.

Use USPS, when ever you can. I really love the US Post Office. I can confidentially state, the negative press about this are just lies from competitors and there investors.

USPS is GREAT!

Ridiculous. They can’t even keep stuff from getting lost half the time.

I have so many Forever stamps that I will probably never need to buy stamps again. The rare instances I'll need a stamp will barely put a dent in my Forever Collection - sorta like a Madame Alexander Doll Collection.

in some cities, they have really beautiful buildings. And condos home developers want USPS to sell these buildings.

USPS is Great. Use them whenever you can (if available.) They are very fast actually.

Don't whine.

Thought Biden was working on getting that DeJoy creep out.

A bit OT, but it deffo has to do with Post Offices. I noticed in during my visit to London in 2006 that the post office (NW3) I used to use on Finchley Road near Arkwright closed. I was bummed because it was in the back of a mom and pop grocery (what we, in politically less correct days, would refer to as a 'Paki Grocery.' No racism was intended, as it was the British version of '7-11'). A couple of days later during my trip I noticed the big Post Office on Finchley, nearer to Swiss Cottage, had customers spilling out of the lobby and onto the street! It seems Post Offices on the damp and soggy isle were the target of closures. Here in Seattle, my last go round with the 98109 Post Office, when I staggered in (heavily medicated) was, in retrospect, hilariously funny. One clerk on Boxing Day 2017, doing her best and moving as fast as she possibly could for being slow-ish. Then, finally! One lady ahead of me! Thinking I'll be out of here shortly! Freedom! The fucking passive aggressive bitch had to see EVERY stamp in EVERY book that was available! You know the sensation that this was planned just to see how long you would go before being led out of the lobby in a strait jacket? Then, after weighing a medallion that was very, very light, they wanted over thirteen dollars to mail it to The Netherlands! I told her she was nuts and I asked to see the manager. He came out from the back, and I recognized him as someone who had been extremely helpful and polite when I was in there before. I just dropped it.

That my post office story. If they need to raise the price of postage, that's what they need to do. If they don't, the service will just get worse. Unless you're in business to ship mass packages, I don't think it's going to kill you. Of course, DL could have a mass exodus where we all tell Muriel it was either the Post Office or DL, and we went with the Post Office... can you imagine? WW4 would pale in comparison.

Biden made progress with this, this week. On Wed., I believe, the last Democratic appointee to the USPS Board of Directors was approved by the Senate. Now they have the board in place to vote to remove DeJoy. The only hitch is that it looks like 2 “DINOs” on the board have been bought by DeJoy and/or conservatives which may lead to further delays in his removal. We’ll see.

ALSO, the only reason the USPS is referred to as “beleaguered” and said to be losing money is because several years ago, Republicans passed a bill requiring the USPS to include/account for the retirement benefits for EVERY employee eligible within the next 75 years as part of their annual operating budget - unlike ANY other government agency or any other business. It was their way to force an otherwise successful agency into the red. They’ve been trying to kill the USPS for years - despite its Constitutional mandate.

These fuckers have been getting away with all kinds of nonsense for decades because Americans pay little attention to the actions of their elected officials - which isn’t meant as a defeatist criticism because it takes a lot of effort to do so.

When Republicans take back to House and the Senate next year and steal the WH again in 2024 - which they are rigging in broad daylight as you read this, right now - we’re going to have to start creating chaos of our own. Democrats are the only ones abiding by the rules of a game that no longer exists and despite being the majority in this country by about 40M - 60M in terms of population, we will soon fall under minority rule again in all branches of government.

I’m thinking blue state legislators need to pass bills that declare federal taxes as voluntary for businesses and individuals without penalty. It’s no different from the voter suppression bills being passed right now in all red states where they’re taking the certification of elections away from Secretaries of State and leaving it to State Attorney Generals to decide whether they agree with results or not with the power to hand elections to GOP candidates.

No federal taxes from blue states means we starve the beast - Republicans favourite phrase - and red states on the grift would eventually get nothing. The bills themselves could be tied up on appeal for at least a decade. Play the long game just like Trump does. The party that says “only fools pay taxes” and devotes themselves singularly to lowering taxes for the top 0.01% to the point of not paying any taxes deserves nothing better than a mass refusal to pay them. (Note: Rich people don’t work so do not care about income taxes. This is why capital gains taxes are so low to non-existent - because they make their money on investments and pay next to nothing; less than half the percentage that lower income and middle class families pay.)

Does anyone have a better idea? Because this shit is going down even faster than you think.

If the price of a first class stamp goes up, then so does everything else, right? E.g., flat rate boxes, Priority Mail, etc.

It's still a good deal. We all needed the Post Office through the pandemic.

Yes, it's not just the price of a stamp. It's everything. Shipping and handling for everything you order online increases in cost too--and it goes up much more than three cents (55 cents to 58 cents) like the stamp does.

Get rid of Louis DeJoy. Why can't Biden get rid of him? He's a Trump appointee.

Here’s some pricing for New Zealand to put things in perspective.

To send a standard size letter within NZ, the cost is $1.40 ( $1 usd) and usually takes 2-3 working days. Mail is only delivered every second day here.

To send a standard size letter overseas it is $2.70 ($2 usd) and aims to take 6-10 working days.

Biden can’t get rid of DeJoy because when it all comes down to it, DeJoy isn’t proposing anything radically different than the next guy would. They’re all in agreement that the postal service needs radical change.

In France an economy stamp is 1,08 euros and a priority stamp is 1,28 euros for inside France, and France is only the size of one state, and not the biggest one. I can't remember how much is a stamp for another European country, but outside Christmas card it's not often used.

[quote]I buy a book of stamps like every 4 months or more.

For me, it's more like every two years.

You think the USPS has problems?

[quote]Spain’s postal service introduces skin-tone stamps to fight racism — and makes the whitest one the most valuable

[quotye] New Zealand . . . Mail is only delivered every second day here.

And it's by carrier pigeon.

A bit OT, why has eBay started charging tax on POSTAGE?! I noticed this when I bought a few items for gifts. The postage/shipping price listed in the auction is aways much higher at Checkout. You cannot blame the Sellers for this, as they aren't the people tagging on this extra tax.

A relative was wondering why her postage was so high on some heavy glassware pieces she bought on eBay to replace some broken dishes in her collection. The glassware was heavy, but not that heavy! She paid, then called eBay and was given some convoluted response that eBay are now charging tax on postage (on any taxable items) due to Sellers overcharging on shipping. WTF? Of course, that answer made absolutely zero sense.

Demand that DeJoy is fired.

This shit kills my small online business. Especially those selling small dollar items. The shipping costs more than the item many times.

Your business is doomed anyway if a 3 cent increase per stamp is killing it.

Try switching to a more profitable (a.k.a real) line of business.

[quote]There's no bills I mail anymore (there used to be one), so I basically only use stamps for birthday cards and other card-worthy occasions.

No bills. No cards. No need at all.

I haven't bought a stamp in years. I have mailed a few parcels, otherwise I'm always on the receiving, never the sending side.

I have loved my post office in the last two places I’ve lived. I have a PO Box to receive mail and packages and the price has gone up a lot over the years. I think this last time the annual fee went up by $25.