Temporary surcharge reaches goal but Postal Service says decrease could spell disaster.
The cost of a first class postage stamp is set to decrease next month for the first time in 97 years.
Currently 49 cents, the price of a stamp will drop to 47 cents on April 10. The U.S. Postal Service temporarily raised the price from 46 cents in 2014. A congressional act allowed for the increase, technically an additional 4.3% surcharge, in order to help the Postal Service raise $4.6 billion in revenue to alleviate its Great Recession losses.
Revenues from the 3 cent increase are expected to reach $4.6 billion in April, signaling the end of the surcharge and a decrease in stamp prices for consumers. (The rollback of 2 cents instead of 3 is to account for inflation.)
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While this may be good news for consumers, Postmaster General Megan Brennan says it’s anything but for the Postal service.
The temporary price increase, Brennan said in a statement, “only partially alleviated our extreme multi-year revenue declines resulting from the Great Recession, which exceeded $7 billion in 2009 alone,” adding that the price reduction was “irrational … considering the Postal Service’s precarious financial condition.”
Postal Service revenues have declined for years thanks to increased use of email and private carriers such as FedEx.
The last time stamp prices fell was in 1919, when the cost was decreased by a penny, from 3 cents to 2 cents.
