Keep US Posted — a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — called on the Postal Regulatory Commission to reject the U.S. Postal Service’s plans to raise postage rates again in January 2024 and continue the unprecedented trend of twice-annual price increases (taking effect every January and July) since 2022.

If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, prices will increase across all First-Class mail products by 2%, and the cost of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp will rise from 66 cents to 68 cents. Stamp prices just increased in July from 63 cents to 66 cents, after going from 60 cents to 63 cents in January 2023.

Keep US Posted warns that the twice annual postage hikes — a key part of the Delivering for America Plan, USPS’ 10-year roadmap to financial solvency — are compounding USPS losses and could lead to a government bailout if the Postal Regulatory Commission or Congress does not put a stop to them.

“These unprecedented postage hikes are giving Americans rate whiplash and compromising the Postal Service’s ability to deliver for America,” said former congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), who also serves as executive director for Keep US Posted. “While intended to raise revenue, the data shows that each new postage hike only drives more consumers and businesses away from using the mail. Mail volume is currently down nearly 9% year-over-year after rate hikes took effect in January and July, and the proposed increase next January will only perpetuate these losses. Paper mail business keeps USPS afloat, and with every postage hike, more mail leaves the system forever.”

Added Yoder: “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s twice annual postage increases are the only part of the Delivering for America Plan that is coming to fruition. The plan promised that USPS would break even in 2023, yet it’s on track to post a loss of over $8 billion this year, even after Congress provided $100 billion dollars of balance sheet relief in 2022. Not only has package growth not kept pace with the plan’s projections, but the unprecedented stamp hikes have driven more mail out of the system than USPS ever thought possible.”

Earlier this year, Keep US Posted submitted analysis to Congress challenging the U.S. Postal Service’s plans to continue increasing postage rates twice per-year. Commissioned by the Greeting Card Association, a Keep US Posted member organization, the analysis exposes serious flaws in the Delivering for America plan’s projections and calls into question the viability of excessive postage rate increases. Specifically, the report notes that mail volumes were better than forecast initially, but the recent pattern of twice annual rate increases have led to a perilous loss of mail.