Postal Officials Urging Rate Hike; First-Class Stamp Could Go to 25
U.S. Postal Service officials, concerned about rising costs, are urging their governing board to increase the price of a first-class stamp next year, a postal spokesman said Friday.
The proposal to set the rate increase process in motion will have to be approved by the Postal Service Board of Governors, but the request may be made at the board’s next monthly meeting, scheduled for April 6 and 7 in Dallas.
Mailing a first-class letter has cost 22 cents since Feb. 17, 1985.
It was not known how large an increase the officials are seeking or when they want it to take effect, but industry experts have estimated that the price of a first-class stamp would rise no higher than 25 cents.
Postmaster General Preston R. Tisch said last month that, although postal profits reached $416 million in the first quarter of fiscal 1987, a rate increase would be needed soon because of changes throughout the federal retirement system. Those changes are expected to add $2 billion to Postal Service costs over the next two years.
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