Stamp Prices Set to Rise

Written by Nickel - 6 Comments

After three and a half years without an increase, the cost of a first class stamp will go up two cents to $0.39 on January 8, 2006. This increase is part of an approximately 5.4% across the board price hike. I don’t know about you, but I can’t really complain…

I’m still amazed that I can drop a letter in my mailbox and have it delivered to someone else’s doorstep across the country for less than forty cents. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best deals around.

But if you want an even better deal, why don’t you hop on over to Stamps.com for a bunch of free postage — you can always cancel if you don’t like it!

Here’s a full rundown of the price increases…

– First-class letter, one ounce, up 2 cents to 39 cents.
– First-class letter, two ounces, up 3 cents to 63 cents.
– Post card up 1 cent to 24 cents.
– Priority Mail, one pound, up 20 cents to $4.05.
– Express Mail, 8 ounces, up 75 cents to $14.40.
– Express Mail, 2 pounds, up 95 cents to $18.80.
– Certified mail up 10 cents to $2.40.
– Delivery confirmation (priority) up 5 cents to 50 cents.
– Delivery confirmation (first-class parcels) up 5 cents to 60 cents.
– Return receipt (original signature) up 10 cents to $1.85.
– Return receipt (electronic) up 5 cents to $1.35.
– Money orders up 5 cents to 95 cents.

A quick piece of advice: Keep the price hike in mind when buying stamps in the next month or so. If you get caught with a stockpile of $0.37 stamps in January you’ll have to pick up a bunch of $0.02 stamps to piece together the appropriate amount of postage.

Here’s another tip… Hop on over to Stamps.com for a bunch of free postage — you can always cancel if you don’t like it.


Published on November 16th, 2005 - 6 Comments
Filed under: Miscellany
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. This is a nitpick, but why not take it to the full nickel, instead of “0.39″ and “0.63″? I do a lot of varied weight first-class mailing at work, and figuring out what a 4 ounce letter costs first class is a pain. I understand that for those who mail huge amounts first class, those pennies add up. But if it’s going to go up again (and it will!) go ahead and take the penny now and put off the next increase!

    Comment by Daytonscott — Nov 16th 2005 @ 2:53 pm

  2. Damn. I guess I won’t get to use up those stamps I bought last year, without adding supplementary ones. Oh well.

    Comment by Matt — Nov 17th 2005 @ 4:38 am

  3. It won’t last long…this increase is to cover an escrow account mandated by Congress. Due to gas prices, the post office is asking to raise prices again in 2007 to cover additional operating costs.

    A little know fact is that you can get stamps at below retail price – especially helpful if you sell on ebay or send a lot of mail.

    Comment by SavingAdvice — Nov 18th 2005 @ 1:15 am

  4. ["...I don’t know about you, but I can’t really complain… I’m still amazed that I can drop a letter in my mailbox and have it delivered to someone else’s doorstep across the country for less than forty cents. As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best deals around.."]

    |

    …and how much does it cost you to send a dozen e-mails to Europe ? {Are you ‘amazed’ at that ?}

    The US Post Office is a notoriously inefficent bureaucracy — prices should be going down…. not up!

    The USPS is actually delivering Billions ‘fewer’ letters each year… due to competition from other communications — so they’re really doing less and charging more!

    If the Post Office did not have a legal MONOPOLY on first-class mail, FEDEX & UPS would have put them out of business years ago.

    Start complaining — you’re being ripped off.

    Comment by Foster — Nov 22nd 2005 @ 3:58 pm

  5. i dont know too much about the stamp ordeal but im pretty sure that we as americans are getting ripped off by the government. but hey what do i care i am only a 15 year old.

    Comment by Andrew Running Hawk — May 9th 2007 @ 1:01 pm

  6. why do we need stamps? send me an e-mail on why if you know. please thank you.

    Comment by Andrew Running Hawk — May 9th 2007 @ 1:03 pm

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