Stamp prices rise Monday

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Time to stock up on those value-holding Forever Stamps: The U.S. Postal Service is increasing the price of a first-class stamp to 44 cents from 42 cents Monday. So each Forever Stamp you buy today for 42 cents will be worth 44 cents Monday.

Some other costs also will increase. For example, the cost of the first ounce for a large envelope will
rise to 88 cents from 83 cents. The first ounce of a parcel package will be $1.22 instead of $1.17. For the full list of changing rates, go here.

When they announced the increases in February, postal officials estimated the increase would cost the average household $3 a year.

The U.S. Postal Service has become another bellwether for the state of the economy, and the news is not good: Even with the postage increase, officials say, the service may have a $1.5 billion shortfall the end of the fiscal year.

But the Postal Service’s red ink is already deep. Postal Service officials said today that they ended the
fiscal second quarter on March 31 with a net loss of $1.9 billion. The primary reason was what the service described as an ‘unprecedented’ decline in mail volume as customers either mailed less often or switched to using the Internet.

“The economic recession has been tough on the mailing industry, and we have seen an unprecedented decline in mail volumes and revenue that continued to accelerate during the second quarter,” Postmaster General John Potter said. In the second quarter, the Postal Service said, its mail volume totaled 43.8 billion pieces, down 7.5 billion pieces, or 14.7%, compared to a year earlier.

-- Ron White