Business & Tech

Price of Stamps Jumps by 3 Cents Starting Sunday

A book of 20 stamps will increase by 60 cents in order to cover the losses the U.S. Postal Service incurred during the "Great Recession."

By Karen Sorensen

If you didn't buy stamps Saturday, you'll be paying 60 cents more for a book of them Sunday.

The price of a first-class U.S. postage stamp increases from 46 cents to 49 cents on Sunday, a substantial hike needed to offset increasing losses incurred from 2008 to 2011 because of the "Great Recession," according to a UPI story

During that period, mail volume dropped by 25.3 billion pieces and resulted in a $2.8 billion drop in revenue, the story said.

The increase is said to be temporary, and will be in place only until the loss in revenue is recovered, Postal Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Ruth Goldway said in the story. The period is expected to be about two years, she said.

In December, the post office announced it had lost $5 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the story said. In the previous year, the service lost a record $15.9 billion.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here