The United States Postal Service raised the price of its first-class stamp and other products on July 13.

The Postal Regulatory Commission – the federal agency that oversees the USPS – had been weighing approving a five-cent spike on the stamp per a news release in May.

This latest price increase has since been approved by the commission.

In April, the USPS said these price adjustments are “needed to achieve the financial stability sought by the organization’s Delivering for America 10-year plan,” adding its prices “remain among the most affordable in the world.”

The changes are expected to increase mailing service product prices by 7.4 percent, the USPS said.

The price of forever stamps rose from 73 to 78 cents. 

Other USPS product price increases include domestic postcards (56 cents to 62 cents), letters (69 cents to 74 cents) and international postcards ($1.65 to $1.70).

The National Newspaper Association recently told the regulatory commission that the USPS should only be permitted to raise postage rates annually in response to a request by the PRC for comments on proposed new rules that would stop semi-annual increases newspaper publishers have seen most years since 2021.

The mail volume of periodicals, which includes newspapers, has fallen by almost a third since the steep postage increases began in 2021. Slow delivery combined with higher rates has pushed customers away from the postal system, the NNA said.

The NNA also reminded the PRC that it has not required USPS to measure the true cost of “within county” newspaper delivery since 2007. 

While the PRC imposes a 2 percent surcharge each year on newspapers for failing to cover USPS costs for their handling and delivery, neither USPS nor the commission has tried to nail down the actual costs to USPS for delivering “within county” newspapers.