{"id":21501,"date":"2015-06-08T05:45:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T09:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21501"},"modified":"2015-06-07T14:42:13","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T18:42:13","slug":"postage-rates-are-actually-going-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/06\/postage-rates-are-actually-going-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Postage rates are actually going down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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.\u00a0 The cost of the switch will be minimal, due to the US Postal Service reliance on \u201cforever stamps\u201d (though woe to the speculators who bough them as investments).<\/p>\n

In the age of e-mail and UPS delivery, do we really need the U. S. mail anymore?<\/p>\n

From USPS can\u2019t keep rate increase forever, court rules \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u2019t be permanent.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n

But regulators set a cap on the amount of revenue USPS could recoup with the higher prices. The cap will be reached this summer.<\/p>\n

USPS and the industry representing bulk mailers filed legal challenges as soon as the price increase took effect, with mailers challenging the recession\u2019s justification for higher rates and the post office \u2014 which had pressed regulators for a 6 percent increase \u2014 arguing that the hike should be permanent.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cthe new normal,\u201d the ruling said \u2014 and the Postal Service must adjust to that reality. . . .<\/p>\n

Rolling back the price from 49 cents may be easier than it seems. While the\u00a0price 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,\u00a0it relied on its popular line of \u201cForever\u201d stamps, which now costs 49 cents instead of 46. With the court ruling, USPS will again revise the price of the Forever stamp.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 The cost of the switch will be minimal, due to the US Postal Service reliance on \u201cforever stamps\u201d (though woe to the speculators who bough them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,26],"tags":[2870,2892],"class_list":["post-21501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-government","category-law","tag-stamps","tag-us-postal-service"],"yoast_head":"\nPostage rates are actually going down<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta 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