Grab some 2-cent stamps

You may need a few 2¢ stamps early next year if the U.S. Postal Service gets its way.

USPS officials are asking the Postal Regulatory Commission to approve a rate hike that would go into effect on January 2, 2011. If the increase is approved, first-class letter rates will increase to 46 cents, with each additional ounce costing 18 cents. You’ll have to spend 30 cents to mail a postcard.

Prices to other countries could climb by 5–8 cents for the first ounce, depending on the destination.

The increases could cut the USPS’s massive deficit by $2.3 billion in the upcoming fiscal year.

Postage rate increases are technically limited to no more than the rate of inflation, but the PRC has the authority to approve higher increases like the ones requested as long as the USPS can demonstrate extraordinary need.

What do you as a stamp collector think of the proposed rate changes? Is the increase significant enough to even be on your radar?

Published 2010-07-07