Prices for a first-class stamp will drop from 49 cents back down to 46 cents after a federal court ruled that the latest postage increase could not be permanent. The cost of the switch will be minimal, due to the US Postal Service reliance on “forever stamps” (though woe to the speculators who bough them as investments).
In the age of e-mail and UPS delivery, do we really need the U. S. mail anymore?
From USPS can’t keep rate increase forever, court rules – The Washington Post:
The U.S. Postal Service will have to roll back a portion of its largest rate increase in 11 years after a federal court ruled that the higher postage prices in place since January 2014 can’t be permanent.
Postal regulators had agreed to a 3-cent emergency postage hike for first-class letters, to 49 cents from 46 cents, after the Postal Service said it needed to recoup billions of dollars it lost during the recession. The 4.3 percent increase came on top of the customary 1.7 percent postage prices have risen to adjust for inflation.
But regulators set a cap on the amount of revenue USPS could recoup with the higher prices. The cap will be reached this summer.
USPS and the industry representing bulk mailers filed legal challenges as soon as the price increase took effect, with mailers challenging the recession’s justification for higher rates and the post office — which had pressed regulators for a 6 percent increase — arguing that the hike should be permanent.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the emergency rates should not become permanent. The aftereffects of the recession have become “the new normal,” the ruling said — and the Postal Service must adjust to that reality. . . .
Rolling back the price from 49 cents may be easier than it seems. While the price of a first-class letter jumped to 49 cents in January 2014, the Postal Service did not print new stamps to reflect the change. Instead, it relied on its popular line of “Forever” stamps, which now costs 49 cents instead of 46. With the court ruling, USPS will again revise the price of the Forever stamp.
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