Postage stamp prices increasing, again

Postal rates, including the price of Forever stamps, are going up again.

Forever stamps will see a 5-cent increase from 68 cents to 73 cents when the price increase goes into effect on Sunday.

When Forever stamps were introduced in 2007, they cost 41 cents each. That’s a 78% increase in 17 years. The U.S. Postal Service called them “Forever” stamps so consumers knew whenever they bought them, the stamp would be good for sending mail. That means any stamps you have now that you bought for 68 cents or cheaper can still be used even after the price increase.

Here are some other price increases that took effect on Jan. 21:

Product	Prices before July 14	New Prices
Letters (1 oz.)	68 cents	73 cents
Letters (metered 1 oz.)	64 cents	69 cents
Domestic Postcards	53 cents	56 cents
International Postcards	$1.55	$1.65
International Letter (1 oz.)	$1.55	$1.65

The most recent price changes were proposed by the Postal Service in April and approved by its board of governors in November. Aggressive price increases have been part of the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering for America plan, enacted in 2021 by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

“You understand the Postal Service had been in a financial death spiral for the 14 years prior to my arrival in June of 2020 and had no plan to curtail these losses, and therefore no plan to become fiscally self-sufficient,” he told a U.S. Senate committee in April 2024.

You can still use any Forever stamp. Any Forever stamp covers the cost of first-ounce postage even if the price of a stamp changes, Coleman said. You can also still use stamps that are not Forever stamps, but you will need to add enough postage to total 73 cents when mailing a First-Class Mail letter weighing 1 ounce. Other services will see an increase, too, including Priority Mail (5%).