Postage Stamps jump to $0.49 Monday

The cost of mailing a letter  or paying a bill will go up on Monday as the U.S. Postal Service has been granted a .03 raise by Congress.

Typically, postage rates are prohibited from increasing faster than the rate of inflation in Title II of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act:

(1) IN GENERAL- The system for regulating rates and classes for market-dominant products shall–

(A) include an annual limitation on the percentage changes in rates to be set by the Postal Regulatory Commission that will be equal to the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers unadjusted for seasonal variation over the most recent available 12-month period preceding the date the Postal Service files notice of its intention to increase rates;

The 3 cent increase represents a 6.5% increase – well above the current rate of inflation. To counter the exemption, Congress did not make the increase permanent. The 49 cent rate is good for only two years.