Postal Costs Will Continue To Climb, But It Won’t Strain Household Budgets

Aug 4, 2023

No one can say for sure how long it might be before a Forever postage stamp costs a dollar — up from the current 66-cent price that went into effect on July 9.

But more and more, it seems that the $1 first-class stamp price is destined to happen perhaps even five or more years before this century’s midpoint.

The pressures tied to processing and delivering the mail do not exist without a huge total cost.

Amid that, there are the actual individual amounts related to maintaining and operating post offices, distribution centers and vehicles.

Meanwhile, postal workers’ pay and fringe benefits must be competitive with other businesses, in order to attract qualified, quality workers — the key to the Postal Service meeting its service obligations.

Finally, there are the myriad miscellaneous needs and their associated costs — as well as the outlays necessary for competing with what a Wall Street Journal editor described as “the ceaseless call-and-response of email, instant messages and social media.”

All of the Postal Service’s costs are destined to go up in coming years, not go down, regardless of the rate of inflation.

To have a functioning postal system, a specific “infrastructure” must continue to exist, never mind savings that might otherwise be incurred if significant, albeit unadvisable, cutbacks could be implemented.

The Postal Service can be likened to what happened during the 1970s energy crisis, when people tried to reap savings regarding their electric usage and other utilities by turning to woodburners, stoves and fireplaces for their heating needs.

Their electric bills continued to increase, regardless, because of electric companies’ need for a certain level of income to maintain reliable day-to-day service, as well as to be prepared for weather or other emergencies.

Brenda Cronin, an associate editorial features editor at the Wall Street Journal, who was quoted earlier in this editorial, provided a notable paragraph of interesting insight worth repeating in her July 6 Journal column headlined “A letter is a bargain, even at 66 cents.”

“Correspondence reveals who we are,” Cronin wrote, “from the words we use to the stationery or card they are written on. It isn’t only the effort of putting pen to paper but also the various steps of composing sentences, finding a stamp, addressing an envelope, and sliding it into a mailbox. The ritual of moving from salutation to farewell focuses the mind more than fingers scrabbling over a keyboard. In turn, clicking on an icon doesn’t compare to tearing open an actual envelope.”

Many Americans still can recall Aug. 1, 1958, the effective date for the 4-cent first-class stamp.

Younger people can recall May 16, 1971, when the price of a first-class stamp jumped to 8 cents; or Nov. 1, 1981, the effective date for the 20-cent first-class stamp; or May 12, 2008, when the “unheard-of” jump to 42 cents was implemented.

Something else to consider: The cost of a stamp on July 1, 1863, was 3 cents per half-ounce while, beginning on July 1, 1885, the postage rate for a letter up to one ounce in weight cost 2 cents.

If you want to consider stamp-cost increases outlandish, that is your right, but weigh them against other increases, such as for water and sanitary-sewer service, garbage collection, cable television and highway tolls.

A 66-cent stamp now, or even a $1 stamp years from now, won’t strain many household budgets.

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