Blumenthal urges USPS to kill next week’s stamp price hike

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — The United States Postal Service is scheduled to increase the price of a stamp next week by a nickel from 68 cents to 73 cents.

How big of a deal is a five-cent increase? Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal says it’s one step closer to killing off the post office.

The USPS is still losing money, big time. In the first quarter of this year, the post office lost more than $2 billion. Part of their solution is to charge more for postage.

This latest price increase is one in a series that has driven the stamp price up more than 46% since 2018.

“There is no denying that the Postal Service needs more revenue, but there are better ways to gain that revenue,” Blumenthal said.

The Senator says that since 2006, the number of letters mailed in this country has been nearly cut in half, and rapid price hikes on stamps will only worsen matters.

“This disastrous decline in mail volume, driven by rate hikes, is simply excessive and unsustainable,” Blumenthal said. He says he has written a letter to leadership at the USPS, asking them to cancel the July 14 stamp price hike.

So far, there are no signs the post office will back off the price increase. Postal officials contacted by News 8 directed us to the USPS’s “Delivering for America” plan , designed to “create a revitalized organization.”

As usual, your old stamps will still work after July 14. Once you purchase “Forever” stamps, they will work regardless of the cost.

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