Every time postage goes up, the same question circulates: could a president or an appointee bring it back down?
The short answer is no, and the reason is structural rather than political. It is worth understanding, because it also tells you the only signal that reliably predicts a price change.
Who actually decides
The USPS is an independent establishment of the executive branch. It receives no tax funding for its operations and covers its costs from what it charges.
Rates are proposed by USPS leadership, then reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission — an independent regulator — before they can take effect. The Commission's job is to check that a proposal fits the statutory pricing rules, not to decide whether it is politically welcome.
Governance sits with the Board of Governors, whose members are appointed and confirmed but who do not set individual prices, and the Postmaster General reports to that board rather than to the White House.
So an administration can influence appointments and legislation over time. It cannot lower the price of a stamp, and no advisory body or efficiency initiative changes that chain.
What actually drives the price
Volume decline. First-Class mail has fallen dramatically as communication moved online, while the obligation to deliver to every address six days a week has not. Fixed costs spread across fewer pieces means a higher price per piece — this is arithmetic, not policy.
Operating costs. Labour, transport and infrastructure, all of which have risen.
The financial stabilization plan. The ten-year Delivering for America plan, introduced under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, made regular price adjustments an explicit part of returning the service to solvency. The increases are a designed feature of that plan.
Efficiency improvements are real and worth pursuing — automation, route optimisation, better sorting. They slow cost growth. They have not reversed it, in part because the volume decline is larger and faster than any operational saving.
The price history
| Year | Forever stamp |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 41 cents |
| 2019 | 55 cents |
| 2020 | 55 cents |
| 2021 | 58 cents |
| 2022 | 60 cents |
| 2023 | 63 cents |
| 2024 | 73 cents |
Note 2019 to 2020: a flat year. Increases are not automatic, and there have been pauses — the USPS has previously announced it would hold prices at the start of a year and revisit them no earlier than July.
Decreases are vanishingly rare — postage has fallen only a couple of times in the modern era, and each time a further increase followed shortly after. That is the practical point for anyone buying postage.
What to actually watch
Since prices move only through the regulatory process, the process is the signal:
- The Postal Regulatory Commission's docket. Proposals appear here before they take effect. This is the earliest reliable notice.
- Official USPS announcements. Confirmation, including announcements that prices will not change.
- Nothing else. Political commentary, predictions and forum speculation have no bearing on the outcome, and forecasts of specific future figures are consistently wrong.
What you can do about it
You cannot change the rate. You can decide when you pay it.
A Forever stamp covers a one-ounce letter at whatever the rate becomes, so postage bought before an announced increase carries the old price forward. For someone sending around 100 letters a year, buying the year's supply once, ahead of an adjustment, is the whole strategy.
Buy what you will use. Beyond that it stops being a saving.
Where to buy
The USPS official store, or a verified surplus channel such as Forever Stamp Center — and check the Postal Regulatory Commission before a large purchase.
The short version
Stamp prices are set through an independent regulatory process, not by anyone in office. They have never come down. Watch the Commission's docket rather than the news cycle, and buy your year's postage before the next announced increase.
More on buying Forever stamps
- 👉 Seven Increases Since 2021: Reading the Price Curve
- 👉 Fifty-Five Cents to Seventy-Three in Five Years
- 👉 Why Is Postage So Expensive?
Currently working at USPS in Chicago, he has more than 15 years of experience in bulk mailing and logistics. His columns focus on Forever Stamp trends, helping businesses and individuals make cost‑effective mailing decisions.
