US Postal Service will not seek stamp price hike in January

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service said on Wednesday it will not seek to raise first-class mail stamp prices in January.

The money-losing Postal Service hiked prices in July to 78 cents from 73 cents, boosting overall mailing services product prices by 7.4%. The Postal Service plans to reconsider prices in mid-2026. Stamp prices are up 46% after a series of price hikes since early 2019 when they were 50 cents. First-class mail volume is now at its lowest level since 1968.

The announcement is the first under new Postmaster General David Steiner, who took over in July after President Donald Trump ousted his predecessor Louis DeJoy.

In February, Trump called the Postal Service a "tremendous loser for this country," and said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the U.S. Commerce Department, a move Democrats said would violate federal law.

DeJoy led an effort to dramatically restructure the Postal Service, including cutting forecast cumulative losses over a decade to $80 billion from $160 billion.

The Postal Service, an agency with 635,000 employees that lost $9.5 billion last year, reduced its workforce by 10,000 workers earlier this year through a voluntary retirement program.

The Postal Service in August reported a $3.1 billion net loss for the three months ending June 30, up from the $2.5 billion loss reported in the same period last year. The Postal Service has lost more than $100 billion since 2007.

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