U.S. Postal Service Seeks Rate Increase for January 2017

Here’s an important stamp date: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. That’s when the U.S. Postal Service has told mailers it wants to implement its next rate change.

But it’s unknown if the Postal Service will use its annual rate change to seek an end the 47 cent first-class stamp.

By law, the USPS cannot raise stamp prices above the rate of inflation, and any changes must be endorsed by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

It’s well known that the cash-hungry USPS has been upset that Congress has turned a deaf ear to its repeated pleas to reinstate the 49 cent first-class stamp that it won as a temporary measure in 2014. And postal officials have made clear to mailers that they want to maximize the annual price increase when the new rates are imposed in January.