Forever stamp prices and other USPS shipping services just went up again: See the new list of postal rates

If you need a fresh pack of stamps, be prepared to pay a little bit more. As of yesterday, the price of a Forever Stamp is now 78 cents, an increase of roughly 7%.

And it’s not just stamps. The United States Postal Service (USPS) is hiking rates for various domestic shipping services. Here’s everything you need to know:

Which rates are going up?

According to a notice from the USPS, rates for the following services are going up:

• Priority Mail service: 6.3% increase
• USPS Ground Advantage: 7.1% increase
• Parcel Select: 7.6%

Which rates are staying the same

The post office says the following services will not increase:

• Priority Mail Express service
• Domestic Extra Services
• International Ancillary Services
• International Products

Why are rates going up?

The increases are going toward technological upgrades, the modernization of services, new staffing, and customer service improvements, according to the USPS notice.

Why am I just hearing about these rate increases?

Probably because there is a lot going on in the world, and it’s easy for this kind of news to get lost in our current flood-the-zone environment. The USPS did publish a notice about the proposed rate increases on May 9. Those increases have been approved and are now reflected on USPS.com.

Why does this sound familiar?

Rate hikes at the post office have become more frequent in recent years. The price of a stamp was last raised about a year ago, when the rate jumped from 68 cents to 73 cents, and that was already the second rate increase of 2024.

The USPS has been working on a 10-year plan to achieve sustainability in the modern era, but it’s still losing money. The agency saw a net loss of $9.5 billion in 2024, compared to $6.5 billion the year before.

Last year, the USPS attributed $1.4 billion of its $79.5 billion operating revenue to rate increases.