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USPS Rate Increases Take Effect Today: Forever Stamps Rise to 82 Cents
July 12, 2026
Mailing a letter will cost a bit more starting today. The U.S. Postal Service’s planned price adjustments officially take effect Sunday, July 12, raising the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents.
The 4-cent increase is part of a broader 4.8 percent rise in mailing services product prices, which was approved by the Governors of the Postal Service and reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Under the new pricing structure that goes into effect today, a standard one-ounce First-Class Mail letter increases from 78 cents to 82 cents, while a metered one-ounce letter moves from 74 cents to 78 cents. Sending a domestic postcard now costs 65 cents, up from 61 cents. International travelers and standard mailers will also see increases, as the price for both international postcards and outbound single-piece international one-ounce letters has risen from $1.70 to $1.75.
Postal customers looking for a bit of good news will find it in the additional-ounce price for single-piece letters, which remains unchanged at 29 cents.
According to the postal service, the adjustments are a response to continued rising operational costs and the severe financial crisis facing the agency. As a self-financing independent federal establishment that generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, the USPS relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to fund its sprawling network.
Even with the new adjustments, U.S. Postal Service officials maintain that the nation’s mailing prices remain among the most affordable in the world as the agency continues its network modernization plan ahead of its 250th year of service.
NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
4 Responses to “USPS Rate Increases Take Effect Today: Forever Stamps Rise to 82 Cents”
I agree with Jason 100,000%. He couldn’t have said it any better!
I wish Century would get it together. I watch my packages go back and forth between Century and Theodore each week. It is almost like when they do not want to make the delivery then it is oops lets send it back to Theodore and then it takes a few days and it comes back to Century. Pathetic!
The pick-up service in our area has changed drastically. I believe it was last October when the local sorting center opted to stop the evening collection and processing of the daily mail. Now, the first class and ground delivery of mail that drivers and the outlying postal office collect on one day, are not sent to the local sorting center until the next day for processing. So if you mail a letter or ship a package on Monday, that outgoing mail isnt collected from your local office until Tuesday morning and further shipped to Jacksonville for processing some time late evening on Tuesday and generally not until early morning on Wednesday. After arriving in Jacksonville the item isnt processed until late Wednesday night or mid-day Thursday.
Meanwhile, If I opt to utilize a post office in lower Alabama, my packages are collected the same day that I dropped them at the post office, sent to Mobile for sorting and delivered to Birmingham — the regional sorting center – the same night. My packages often arrive two to 3-days earlier by shipping from an Alabama facility versus using an office in Escambia or Santa Rosa County Florida.
This past week, I had a package from GNC in Milton needing to be delivered to Cantonment, That package was transported to Jacksonville for sorting and routing back to Pensacola and then on to Cantonment. This is now the routine for our area. All mail goes thru Jacksonville to be sorted. The Postal Service needs to be utilizing the local sorting centers –such as the Jordan Street facility – to sort mail. Package headed west or Northward need to be routed through Mobile to Memphis and packages headed East or Northeastward need to go to Jacksonville for processing. Mail needs to be processed the same day and not a day or two later as is currently being done. If the Postmaster General cant figure out why his operations is losing money hand over fist, he needs to look at the logistical cost of transporting mail 6-hours each way to sort items that should have been handled locally.
Why not end Saturday delivery?
Keep select post offices open on Saturday mornings for outgoing mail services (needed for those unable to get to POs on weekdays).
Require established (not just new) urban and suburban neighborhoods to install cluster box units (CBUs). (Not applicable to rural delivery.)
None of this will reverse postage rate increases, but it would reduce expenditures and some red ink.