Postage rate increases coming in January

In just about a month, the cost to send a first-class letter within the United States will be increasing by 10%.

Beginning on January 27, 2019, you’ll need 55¢ postage to mail a standard envelope weighing up to one ounce. That means the value of Forever stamps you already own goes up, but any Forever stamps you purchase after that date will be more expensive than what you have been paying.

Interestingly, for first-class letters, the charge for additional ounces is dropping from 21¢ to 15¢, as is the non-machinable surcharge. If you send a lot of overweight or stiff envelopes, you might actually save a penny or two, but that’s probably not going to be the case for most people.

Substantial price increases are also coming for Priority Mail including flat-rate envelopes and boxes; for example, a regular flat-rate Priority Mail envelope will cost $7.35 to mail, up from $6.70.

International letter rates are unaffected by the upcoming changes. If you’re curious about new prices for specific types of mail, or you want to dig deep into the details, you can take a look at the United States Postal Service’s 75-page price list reflecting the new rates.

Published 2018-12-26