USPS Desperate PLEA to Congress

Blue USPS mail collection boxes in a row.

The next time you mail a birthday card or pay a bill the old-fashioned way, Washington’s mismanaged Postal Service wants you to pay nearly a dollar just to lick a stamp.

Quick Take

USPS is proposing a first-class stamp increase from 78 cents to 90–95 cents after reporting a $9 billion loss in fiscal year 2025.
Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress the agency could face a cash crunch within roughly a year without reforms, with other reporting pointing to a February 2027 risk window.
The proposal is part of a broader package that includes cost reductions, revenue growth, and requests for new borrowing and pension-related changes.
Any price hike still faces regulatory review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, and some structural changes would require congressional action.

USPS pushes near-$1 stamps after another multibillion-dollar loss

Postmaster General David Steiner, who took the job in July 2025, testified in mid-March before a House Oversight subcommittee that the U.S. Postal Service is considering raising first-class stamps to 90–95 cents, up from today’s 78 cents. USPS reported a $9 billion net loss in fiscal year 2025, even as revenue rose modestly with shipping gains. Steiner framed the stamp hike as a key tool to reduce “controllable” losses and avoid a looming cash shortfall.

The political challenge is that USPS can’t simply set prices like a normal business. The Postal Regulatory Commission limits how fast USPS can raise rates for its “Mailing Services,” and the Postal Service is also bound by a universal service obligation that requires delivery across a massive geography. Steiner’s testimony and related reporting make clear the immediate proposal is only a proposal—meaning households and small businesses are watching a government-run monopoly debate whether it can keep operating without a near-22% jump in stamp costs.

Why the math keeps breaking: fewer letters, fixed obligations

The core problem is structural, not seasonal. Mail volume has collapsed from about 220 billion pieces in 2010 to roughly 110 billion today as Americans moved bills, payments, and messages online. Reporting tied to Steiner’s comments also notes an estimated $86 billion in revenue has evaporated over about 15 years because of that shift. With fewer people using the product, every remaining customer winds up carrying more of the overhead—an outcome that hits seniors, rural residents, and small organizations that still rely on paper mail.

USPS leaders also point back to policy burdens that helped lock in chronic deficits. A 2006 law required USPS to prefund retiree health benefits, and while the 2022 Postal Service Reform Act eased that mandate, major constraints remained. USPS is designed to be self-funded rather than routinely taxpayer-bailed out, but that model only works if revenue aligns with costs and if regulators allow a realistic path to price and product changes. The current debate is, essentially, whether government rules will permit the agency to adjust fast enough to stay solvent.

Steiner’s broader reform push: borrowing, pensions, and potential service cuts

Steiner did not present the stamp hike as the only lever. He also urged lawmakers to consider raising the USPS borrowing limit and changing pension-related rules, including allowing retirement assets to be invested beyond U.S. Treasuries. Some reporting around the hearings also raised possibilities like trimming Saturday delivery or closing some post offices. Those ideas matter to everyday Americans because service reductions tend to fall hardest on communities where the post office is still a hub—often smaller towns far from big-box shipping counters.

On timing, the public record shows slightly different warning windows, but the direction is the same. Some reporting described USPS as potentially running short of cash within 12 months without changes, while other coverage tied to Steiner’s interviews pointed to a February 2027 crunch. Either way, the message to Congress was that the status quo is not sustainable. For conservatives who have watched federal agencies spend first and explain later, the frustration is familiar: years of drift, then a sudden demand for higher prices and emergency authorities.

What happens next: regulators decide on rates while Congress weighs bigger changes

USPS already implemented higher prices on some competitive shipping products in January 2026, while leaving standard stamp prices unchanged at 78 cents at that time. Moving first-class stamps to 90–95 cents would be a separate step with higher visibility, and it would land during a period when families are still sensitive to cost-of-living pressures. USPS argues U.S. stamp prices remain low compared with other industrialized countries, but American voters care less about France’s prices than whether their own government can deliver basic services efficiently.

Americans may soon pay almost $1 to mail a first-class letter. The U.S. Postal Service wants to raise first-class stamp prices to between 90 cents and 95 cents as it faces a financial crunch.https://t.co/hE3iobVbSX

— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) March 18, 2026

The bottom line is that Steiner’s plan puts regulators and lawmakers on the clock. If the Postal Regulatory Commission rejects or slows rate flexibility, USPS will press harder for statutory changes. If Congress expands borrowing without reforms, critics will warn it merely postpones the reckoning. For Americans who still believe government should live within its means, this fight is a live test of whether Washington can fix a sprawling, constitutionally important public service without defaulting to higher costs, weaker service, or both.