USPS Is Making All These Changes to Your Mail in January

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The new year is certain to bring any number of changes our way. Most of those can’t be predicted, but you can already expect one major federal service to switch things up in the coming weeks. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) just announced new changes for the first month of 2024, as it continues to work its way through the Delivering for America (DFA) plan, a decade-long overhaul meant to overcome financial challenges. Read on to find out more about the upcoming adjustments.

RELATED: USPS Will End the Year With “Dramatic Change,” Postmaster General Says .

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Last month, the Postal Service revealed that it had filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of plans to raise mailing services product prices. In the Oct. 6 press release , the agency indicated that this would raise costs for customers by approximately 2 percent, if favorably reviewed by the commission.

“As inflationary pressures on operating expenses continue and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve the financial stability sought by its Delivering for America 10-year plan,” the USPS said in its release.

Set to take effect Jan. 21, the new rates include a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 66 cents to 68 cents. Domestic postcards will also go up to 53 cents, while international postcards and letters will climb up to $1.55.

But now, the Postal Service is planning even more increases.

RELATED: USPS Is Making These Changes to Your Mail, Starting Now .

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More price changes may be coming your way. In a Nov. 15 press release , the USPS announced that it had also filed notice with the PRC of proposed prices changes for shipping services. According to the release, the new rates would impact USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express.

The agency is planning to kickstart these changes on Jan. 21, as well. Starting then, USPS Ground Advantage prices would increase by 5.4 percent, Priority Mail service prices would increase by 5.7 percent, and Priority Mail Express service prices would increase by 5.9 percent.

And there are potential price hikes beyond that.

“The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Post Office Box rental fees and some international mail services that includes Registered Mail and International Mail insurance,” the USPS added in its release. “The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect.”

RELATED: 5 Times You Shouldn’t Insure Your USPS Packages .

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Despite the proposed shipping price changes, the Postal Service said it is not planning to raise prices for its USPS Connect Local offering.

“This service provides businesses with an affordable same-day and next-day delivery for their local customers,” the agency stated in its release.

At the same time, the USPS said that even with the increased prices, it “continues to offer a great value in shipping” for customers.

“Unlike some other shippers, the Postal Service has upfront pricing and does not add surcharges for residential and regular Saturday delivery, nor fuel. Also, the Postal Service offers convenient flat rate and cubic pricing options,” the agency stated.

The Postal Service also noted that with the implementation of its 10-year DFA plan, 98 percent of the U.S. is currently receiving their mail and packages in less than three days on average.

“USPS offers some of the lowest shipping rates in the industry and is a great value to reach more than 165 million delivery points six and sometimes seven-days a week in a consistent and economical way,” the agency added.

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In March 2021, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy launched the Postal Service’s DFA overhaul. But as we end the third year of this transformation, it’s clear the USPS is still struggling. During a Nov. 14 meeting of the Postal Service Board of Governors, DeJoy confirmed that the agency ended the 2023 fiscal year with a $6.5 billion dollar net loss, despite previously set goals.

“When looking back to our DFA projections published in March of 2021, we forecasted that we would break even this year,” he said. “Our efforts to grow revenue and reduce labor and transportation costs were simply not enough to overcome our costs to stabilize our organization, the historical inflationary environment we encountered, and our inability to obtain the CSRS reform we sought, none of which were accounted for in our forecasts.”

As a result, the Postmaster General said that the USPS needs to continue to make “dramatic” and “substantial” change to continue to reduce costs and bring the agency to a profitable one. This includes ongoing “efforts to be innovation in pricing” its market-dominant products, according to DeJoy.

USPS Just Announced Its Next Price Hike, and It’s Happening Soon

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The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in the midst of a major overhaul—and it’s not a short one. When Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over three years ago, he vowed to pull the agency out of financial ruin and make it profitable again. In order to do so, DeJoy kickstarted his 10-year transformation plan called Delivering for America (DFA) in 2021, and has been steadily making regular changes to the USPS as part of the initiative. For customers, one of the most noticeable has been rising costs, and unfortunately, there’s another update on the horizon. Read on to discover more about the next USPS price hike.

RELATED: USPS Is Making These Changes to Your Mail .

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Since the introduction of DFA, the USPS has continued to ramp up costs for customers. The price changes began in Aug. 2021, when the agency first raised the price of a Forever stamp from 55 to 58 cents. The cost then went up to 60 cents in July 2022, and then to 63 cents at the beginning of this year.

The most recent price hike hit over the summer: On July 9, the Postal Service increased the cost of the Forever stamp from 63 cents to 66 cents. And now, the USPS is preparing to raise that number again.

RELATED: USPS Just Issued a New Warning About Mailing Cash .

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The Postal Service is looking to push up mail costs again, in the fifth rate increase since the start of DFA. In an Oct. 6 press release , the agency announced that it had filed notice with the Postage Regulatory Commission (PRC) of its next proposed price hike. According to the release, the USPS is planning to raise mailing service product prices by approximately 2 percent.

RELATED: USPS Warns “Mail Service Could Be Halted”—Even If You’re Following the Rules .

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The USPS wants to implement its new price hike at the beginning of next year. If favorably approved by the PRC—as the agency’s last four increases were—the higher costs for customers would take effect starting Jan. 21, 2024.

“The new rates include a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 66 cents to 68 cents,” the Postal Service said in its release.

A stamp won’t be the only thing you’ll have to pay more for, however. The price changes also include the increase of metered 1-ounce letters from 63 cents to 64 cents; domestic postcards from 51 cents to 53 cents; international postcards from $1.50 to $1.55; and 1-ounce international letters from $1.50 to $1.55.

“There will be no change to the additional-ounce price, which remains at 24 cents,” the USPS stated in its release. “The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Certified Mail, Post Office Box rental fees, money order fees and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item.”

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Don’t expect this to be the last time the cost of your mail goes up in the next few years. The USPS said it has been working to take a “more rational pricing approach” since the introduction of its DFA plan in order to correct “16 years of pricing policies misaligned with organizational needs.”

During a 2022 meeting with the USPS Board of Governors, DeJoy told members that customers should be prepared for the Postal Service to keep raising prices “at an uncomfortable rate” until the agency reaches a point where it is on track to be self-sufficient in the long term, Federal News Network reported at the time.

“I believe we have been severely damaged by at least 10 years of a defective pricing model, which cannot be satisfied by one or two annual price increases, especially in this inflationary environment,” the Postmaster General said.

According to the agency’s website , you should expect rate adjustments twice every year—once in January and again in July.

USPS Is Making All These Changes to Your Mail in January#

USPS Just Announced Its Next Price Hike, and It’s Happening Soon#

USPS Is Making All These Changes to Your Mail in January

USPS Just Announced Its Next Price Hike, and It’s Happening Soon