Stamp Prices Continue Surging Even As Mail Volume Falls

Long gone are the days of cheap tings in stores, as inflation has hit just about everything we use on a daily basis. That is no different for stamps, yes stamps, which have seen a massive uptick in price. Stamp prices have increased in the last five years from 55 cents, to 78 cents, an 8 percent inflation rate. For context, in 2006, the price of a forever stamp was 39 cents.

The price has continued rising even as less people use the mail. You can pay bills online, send e-mails, and communicate on social media. All of it arrives in seconds to boot. Besides birthday cards, people are generally just not using the mail. Beyond that, if you do mail a letter, it sometimes takes over a week for it to arrive. So, once again, a government entity is losing money. Something they have proven to be very adept at doing.

Fox News contributor Ted Jenkin says the United States Postal Service has made a mess of things with one critical choice.

"One of the bad business moves they made is still delivering six days a week...pragmatically, given the amount of things that come through the mail, they should be down to about three or two days a week," he says.

The agency posted a net loss of $6.5 billion in 2023. It is hemorrhaging money and there is not a whole lot being done to stop it. Even 78 cent stamps cannot fix the damage done.

Once again though, as with anything that loses money, this is a government entity. So really, no one should be surprised.

"It is like Medusa...anything the government touches turn to stone...it has happened the same with the United States Postal Service," says Jenkin.

Like most older forms of communcication and media, the mail is dying a slow death. Because incompetence is usually what drives the wheels of Washington, there appear to be no solutions anywhere on the horizon.

But taking simple steps, like getting rid of six day delivery schedules, is a start.

"I think they need to go to a two or three day week schedule, and reset expectations for the delivery of mail in the United States. Because with how bloated they are right now, they still cannot deliver the mail on time," Jenkin says.

It is just one more thing the government has managed to drive into an inescapable hole.