WASHINGTON -- Mailing a letter will soon cost a penny more.

The cost of a first-class stamp will rise to 42 cents starting May 12, the U.S. Postal Service said Monday.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, the price of the Forever stamp will go up at the same time, meaning those stamps can still be purchased for 41 cents but will remain good for first-class postage after the rate increase takes effect.

The post office has sold 5 billion Forever stamps since they were introduced last April and plans to have an additional 5 billion in stock to meet the expected demand before the May price change, the agency said.

The charge for other services, such as advertising mail, periodicals, packages special services will also change. Changes in the price for Priority Mail and Express Mail will be announced later, the agency said.

Postage rates last went up in May 2007, with a first-class stamping jumping 2 cents to the current 41-cent rate.

In the past, raising postage rates was a long, complex process involving hearings before the independent Postal Regulatory Commission, a process that could take nearly a year.

However, under the new law regulating the post office that took effect in late 2006, the agency is allowed to increase rates with 45-days notice as long as changes are within the rate of inflation for the previous 12 months. The Postal Regulatory Commission calculated that rate at 2.9 percent through January, limiting the first-class rate to an increase of just over a penny.

Under the new law, postal prices will be adjusted annually each May, the Postal Service said. Officials said they plan to give 90 days notice of future changes, twice what is required by law.

While the charge for the first ounce of a first-class letter rises to 42 cents, the price of each added ounce will remain 17 cents, so a two-ounce letter will go up a penny to 59 cents.

The cost to mail a postcard will also go up a penny, to 27 cents.

Other increases set for May 12:
Large envelope, 2 ounces, $1, up 3 cents.
Money Orders up to $500, $1.05, unchanged.
Certified mail, $2.70, up 5 cents.
First-class international letter to Canada or Mexico, 72 cents, up 3 cents.
First-class international letter to other countries, 94 cents, up 4 cents.

The Postal Service will announce new prices for shipping services -- Express Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Select and International Mail in March.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems

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imma start drawing stamps on my envelopes

DanceWme said:

LMAO

DanceWme said:

DanceWme said:

Lol....

This is NOTHING more than a regressive hidden TAX.

the post office has forever stamps. you can buy that still work regardless of the rate change.

Graycap23 said:

oil forces prices of everything up.

I mostly e-mail with friends, and I pay my bills online for the most part. I rarely have need to use the U.S. mail. My brother in law, drives the mail from city to city as a contract worker for the U.S. Mail, does this mean he will get a raise, no.

Umm, the mf's JUST went up less than a year ago - WHAT THE FUCK???

CalhounSq said:

overhead.

The US Mail doesn't work like a normal government agency. it was semipriviatized.

it has to meet certain profit margins and the like.

ehuffnsd said:

.....hummmm. the last increase went STRAIGHT 2 the FEDS under the control of one G.W. Bush.

You'd die if you lived in Canada. This I am sure.

Our stamp is 52 cents.

Not only are we taxed to death here, we are overcharged something fierce.
[Edited 2/11/08 13:43pm]

JustErin said:

costs a buck now to mail a letter to the states.

U.S. Post Office = the Mafia

A stamp for a postcard/letter here costs 0.64 USD. 1.09 USD for Europe and 1.34 USD for the rest of the world.
A liter of fuel costs 2.18 USD.
VAT here is 19%.
And don't get me started on the food!

You don't wanna live here with the Euro. When our Dutch Guilder changed into the Euro everything became 2.2 times more expensive. Except for our wage of course...

Graycap23 said:

nope

The USPS is unfunded by taxes and makes it's money on postal services, and profits are to be reinvested into the postal system

My mother is asst to the ACE-10 Region HR Manager of the FAA, and her brother is the Asst Post Master for the 641-- zip codes. There is vastly different ways in which they are organized. The USPS is indepenant of the rest of the government agencies.

Someone once told me that the last time the US Postal Service had a legal rate change was many, many years ago. Allegedly, the law that created the US Postal Service mandated that any postal change had to be approved by Congress. Congress got lazy, and hasn't approved a rate change in decades.

So, the story goes, if you put about 4 cents postage on a letter, but write "FIRST CLASS MAIL" on the front, by law the Postal Service has to deliver it. A friend of mine did send a letter to me that way, and sure enough it showed up without any postage due.

I can't find out anything about this on Snopes.com or TruthorFiction.com, so let's just assume it's true. Tell you what - mail me a check in one of those four-cent envelopes and I'll let you know if it gets here.

Fight the power!

RodeoSchro said:

The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered, and has a similar role to a corporate board of directors. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate (see 39 U.S.C. § 202). The nine appointed members then select the United States Postmaster General, who serves as the board's tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer (see 39 U.S.C. § 202 and 39 U.S.C. § 203). The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat.

The USPS is often mistaken for a government-owned corporation (e.g., Amtrak), but as noted above is legally defined as an "independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States," (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is wholly owned by the government and controlled by the Presidential appointees and the Postmaster General. As a quasi-governmental agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed, in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the USPS was not a government-owned corporation and therefore could not be sued under the Sherman Antitrust Act.[2]

ehuffnsd said:

Party pooper.

RodeoSchro said:

i sorry

ehuffnsd said:

I'd believe that if I didn't know otherwise.....

ehuffnsd said:

I would have shared the check proceeds with you.

Graycap23 said:

this is what my mom and my uncle have taught me since i was little. i tend to trust them seeing as my mom has been in the Federal government for 35 years and my uncle was an airtraffic controler until the strike and than went to the Post Office.

ehuffnsd said:

I'm not going 2 argue with u. Believe what u wish.

That just sucks!!!

MoniGram said:

Yeah, from now on, I'm only going to send MoniGrams!

MoniGram for Rodeo! MoniGram for Rodeo!

RodeoSchro said: