Stamps could jump to 60 cents amid financial woes
WASHINGTON — A 60 cent postage stamp? The U.S. Postal Service would have to boost prices for mailing letters and packages by nearly 20 percent — the biggest one-time increase in its history — to avoid bankruptcy and improve delivery service, an industry analysis says.
That means the price of a firstclass stamp could jump from 49 cents to nearly 60 cents — if the post office gets the power to raise stamp rates beyond the rate of inflation.
The Postal Service is currently petitioning the agency that oversees it, the Postal Regulatory Commission, to grant the biggest change to its pricing system in a half century: the authority to lift a cap on postal rates. The commission’s decision is expected within weeks.
If the Postal Service gets the ability to raise rates, it could add substantially to the cost of mailing prescription drugs and magazines, for example. Packaging and bulk-mail rates also would be affected, straining tight budgets for an increasing number of state and local governments that distribute election ballots by mail.
Colorado, Oregon and Washington conduct elections almost entirely by mail, while California is making the switch and will fully do so beginning with the 2020 elections. Most other states also mail out ballots as a part of early voting.
The Postal Service is pointing a finger of blame partly at Congress for its financial troubles, noting declining use of mail but also onerous retiree health benefit costs. Legislation passed in 2006 required the Postal Service to prefund 75 years’ worth of retiree health benefits, something that no other government or private business is required to do.
A bill passed by a House committee earlier this year would ease much of the Postal Service’s problems caused by that health benefits requirement, helping avoid significant price increases. But the legislation has been stalled by a separate review in the House Ways and Means Committee, which is seeking to focus first on overhauling the nation’s tax code.