US Postal Service raises stamp price to 82 cents

By David ‌Shepardson

WASHINGTON, July ​11 (Reuters) - ​The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will raise the price ‌of stamps for mailing a first-class ⁠letter to 82 cents from 78 cents, ‌effective Sunday.

Here are the ‌details:

• USPS, which has warned it could run out of cash ​early next year, announced in April it would raise mailing ⁠costs by 4.8%.

• U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner told ​Congress last month the agency, which has had net losses ​of about $120 billion since ‌2007, has a broken business model and needs help ⁠from lawmakers to turn around its operations.

• The volume of first-class mail, its ⁠most profitable product, has dropped to 1960s ​levels as communication has largely gone digital. Yet the agency must maintain costly nationwide ‌delivery operations.

• Steiner thinks Americans would be willing to ‌pay 90 or 95 cents per ⁠letter, when much ‌of the ​world pays $2 or more.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Cynthia ‌Osterman)

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