The cost of mailing a letter will increase by three cents Sunday, the largest increase in consumer postage prices in over a decade. Saturday is the last day stamps can be bought for 46 cents.
Mailing a post card will also cost one cent more than before from Sunday, bringing the price to 34 cents, CNN Money reports. The prices have increased in an effort to keep up with inflation and make up some of the United States Postal Service’s $5 billion in annual losses. Two billion fewer pieces of mail were sent in 2013 than during the year before.
Though the price hike can’t last longer than two years and can’t raise over $2.8 billion, CNN reports prices likely will not go down again. The United States Postal Service is also reportedly planning to appeal the limits and push for a one-cent increase in price in 2015 and 2016.
But there is a way around the increased costs; consumers have two days to stock up on “Forever” stamps that are always valid, no matter what price the consumer paid. “Forever” stamps now account for 84 percent of stamp sales in the U.S.
[CNN]