First-class letter rate to hit 60 cents in July, U.S. Postal Service says

For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Postal Service announced an increase in the cost to send a one-ounce first-class letter.

Starting July 10, the price will be 60 cents, up from the 58 cents the price went to last August.

Prices for metered mail will rise from 53 cents to 57 cents for the first ounce. Additional ounces will be charged at 24 cents, up from 20 cents, and domestic postcards will now cost 44 cents, a 10% increase from the current 40 cents.

One-ounce international letters will now cost $1.40 to send, up from $1.30. Although no longer designated as “air mail,” most overseas letters travel by air.

The Postal Regulatory Commission, which in 2021 allowed the USPS to raise rates twice a year, must approve the moves. A PRC spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Postal Service said first-class prices will increase “approximately 6.5 percent,” an increase lower than the annual inflation rate of 7.9% reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics at the end of February.

“The price changes reflect a judicious implementation of the Postal Service’s pricing authority provided by the Postal Regulatory Commission,” the quasi-governmental corporation, which does not receive taxpayer funds for operating expenses, said in a statement.

However, Stephen Kearney, a former USPS senior official who is now executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, said the cumulative increase in postal rates across the board since that 2021 regulatory decision “adds up to a range of from just under 16% to just under 20%, for the different classes of mail over 18 months. So that’s roughly 1% a month in a year and a half.”

Many nonprofit groups “still rely heavily on mail,” he said, both to communicate with supporters and for fundraising.

But the groups are constrained in spending on “non-program” activities such as mailing, he added, “so it’s going to cause some really tough decisions by a lot of nonprofits.”

Mr. Kearney mentioned Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago. He said the Catholic-affiliated charity budgeted $3.4 million for postage in 2022, about 19% of their overall spending.

“They have a forecast [that] if the Postal Service keeps up this pace for the five years that they’ve been authorized by the PRC, that that percentage will grow to 29%, which for them is just unsustainable. And I imagine there are a lot of nonprofits facing a similar thing,” Mr. Kearney said.

The rate increases were announced on the day President Biden signed into law the “Postal Service Reform Act of 2022,” which introduced several changes to USPS operations, including the repeal of a 2006 mandate that the agency pre-fund retiree health expenses.

That requirement racked up a deficit of $50 billion, Mr. Kearney said, which no longer exists.