USPS 2024 price increases to push Priority Mail Express stamp past $30 mark

By Allen Abel

The retail price of a variety of popular shipping options will surge by between 5 percent and 6 percent on Jan. 21, 2024, according to a notice filed by the United States Postal Service with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Nov. 15.

If approved by the commission, USPS Ground Advantage prices will be raised by 5.4 percent, Priority Mail prices will jump by 5.7 percent, and Priority Mail Express service will increase by 5.9 percent, the Postal Service announced in a Nov. 15 press release.

According to the USPS, the new Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps to be issued in 2024 will be denominated $9.85 and $30.45, respectively.

The new stamps, which are to feature photos of stellar formations taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, will replace the final two stamps in the American Landmarks series: the $9.65 Florida Everglades Priority Mail stamp (Scott 5751) and the $28.75 Great Smoky Mountains Priority Mail Express stamp (5752).

The pricing for USPS Connect Local service will remain unchanged.

The Jan. 21 price hikes include a 2¢ increase in the price of a first-class letter or greeting card, from 66¢ to 68¢. First-class rates will have risen by 13.3 percent since the beginning of 2023 under the Postal Service’s twice-a-year price-hike rubric, which is part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan.

The public announcement of the filing came precisely 24 hours after DeJoy publicly castigated the Postal Regulatory Commission in his remarks following a meeting of the Postal Service’s board of governors in Washington, D.C., noting that the commission “has a demonstrated tendency to resist change or to move only incrementally as it concerns our efforts to acquire new business and save this institution.”

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