By: The Village Reporter Staff
The U.S. Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission on April 9 seeking approval for mailing services price changes to take effect July 12, adding to a years-long pattern of rate increases that has hit community newspapers especially hard.
The proposed adjustments, approved by the governors of the Postal Service, would raise mailing services product prices an average of approximately 4.8 percent. The most visible change is a 4-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 78 cents to 82 cents.
The USPS is also seeking price adjustments for Periodicals, USPS Marketing Mail, Package Services and selected Special Services products. Periodicals mail is the category used by newspapers to deliver subscriptions to readers.
The increase comes as the Postal Service faces what it has described as a severe financial crisis with continued rising operational costs. The agency, which generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
A RELENTLESS PATTERN
For community newspapers across the country, the July 2026 increase represents the latest in a punishing series of rate hikes that began accelerating in 2021 under former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year Delivering for America plan.
Since August 2021, the USPS has raised rates on eight separate occasions. The price of a Forever stamp alone has climbed from 55 cents to the proposed 82 cents — a 49 percent increase in just five years.
Periodicals rates have been hit even harder. The National Newspaper Association reported in mid-2025 that periodicals postage had increased approximately 56 percent since the Delivering for America plan launched in 2021.
For perspective, here is the timeline of rate increases since 2021: August 2021 brought a nearly 9 percent average increase for newspaper Periodicals. In July 2022, rates rose again by approximately 7 percent.
January 2023 brought another increase, pushing the combined impact to roughly 15 percent in a single year. July 2023, January 2024 and July 2024 each added additional percentage points.
After intense pushback from the mailing industry and Congress, the USPS skipped a January 2025 increase but implemented a 7.4 percent overall increase in July 2025, with Periodicals specifically absorbing a 9.3 percent hike.
The Postal Regulatory Commission then stepped in, limiting the USPS to one rate increase per year for Market Dominant products through September 2030.
That ruling is why there was no increase in January 2026. But the once-a-year limit still permits the July 2026 increase now before the PRC for review.
FINANCIAL CRISIS DEEPENS
The Postal Service’s financial picture has grown increasingly dire even as rates have climbed. The USPS lost $9.5 billion in fiscal year 2024 and $9 billion in fiscal year 2025.
New Postmaster General David Steiner, who replaced DeJoy in 2025, has warned Congress that the Postal Service could run out of cash by the end of 2026 without drastic action.
On the same day as the rate increase announcement, the USPS also disclosed that it is temporarily suspending its employer contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System in an emergency cash conservation measure. The agency is urging Congress to increase its borrowing authority from $15 billion to $34.5 billion.
Meanwhile, periodicals mail volume has been in free fall. The number of periodical pieces mailed has dropped more than 66 percent since 2010, from 7.27 billion pieces to approximately 2.44 billion in 2025, according to industry data compiled by Postal Advocate.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR COMMUNITY PAPERS
The ongoing rate increases have forced community newspapers across the country to raise subscription prices repeatedly, a dynamic that risks driving away the very readers these publications serve.
Newspapers using Periodicals permits pre-sort their mail and often transport it directly to destination post offices, performing work that reduces USPS labor and expense. Despite that cooperation, the rates have continued to climb.
The NNA has been vocal in its criticism. NNA Chair Martha Diaz Aszkenazy, publisher of The San Fernando Valley Sun in California, said last year that punitive rate increases have been counter-productive, serving only to destroy mail volume.
The organization has argued that the USPS strategy of raising prices to cover losses has become a self-defeating cycle, driving mailers away and further reducing revenue.
Bipartisan concern is building in Congress. At a hearing last month, Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Kweisi Mfume, D-Maryland, indicated they would be moving forward on legislation to address what Steiner has called pending operational insolvency.
STAMP AND CONSUMER PRICES
Beyond Periodicals, the proposed July 12 price changes include increases across most mailing categories. If approved by the PRC, a First-Class Mail letter will cost 82 cents, metered 1-ounce letters will rise from 74 cents to 78 cents, domestic postcards will increase from 61 cents to 65 cents, and international letters and postcards will each go from $1.70 to $1.75. The additional-ounce price for single-piece letters will remain at 29 cents.
The complete Postal Service price filing can be found on the Postal Regulatory Commission’s website under Docket No. R2026-1. Price tables are also available at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.
