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Postal prices reduced in America for the first time in 100 years



The price of a postage stamp in America is set to drop in April 2016 for the first time in 97 years.

President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act in 1792, which set the price of postage in America according to the distance the mail had to travel. Later postage rates also included the size of the mail, and later, the weight of the mail. From 1885-2001 additional charges occurred for ‘special deliveries.’ The 1970 Postal Reorganization Act announced that the Postal Regulatory Commission would set the postal rates.

Domestic Parcel Post came into existence in America in 1913. In 1919, due to the war, domestic postal prices reduced in America: from 3 cents for letters weighing less than one ounce down to 2 cents.

In September 2013 First Class postal rates, effective from 26 January 2014, increased from 46 cents to 49 cents. The reason for the increase was the loss of $5 billion during the 2013 fiscal year – and raising the price of stamps was a way to raise revenue. A reduction in price by 2 cents will occur in 2016. The United States Postal Services says it will lose $2 billion a year with the price change.

The legislation to set the postal price at 49 cents was a temporary enactment, and is set to expire in April 2016 – now! The price of a First Class postal stamp will be reduced to 47 cents – a drop in prices for the first time since 1919 – 97 years.





MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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