Stamp Price Increase: 82¢ Since July 12, 2026, With Full Price History

Each row is a change in the price of a 1-ounce stamped First-Class Mail letter, the price that the Postal Regulatory Commission notices quoted below equate with the Forever stamp. The price before a row is the price after the row above it. The change column is arithmetic on those two prices. The links in the last column open the source for the row: a Federal Register notice or an archived copy of USPS Price List Notice 123 taken just after the effective date.

The 41¢ row is the starting price rather than a change. A Postal Regulatory Commission notice names 41¢ as the price at which the Forever stamp was introduced, and a Postal Service final rule gives May 14, 2007 as the date the prices of docket R2006-1 took effect:

The 2008 row’s date is as stated in the PRC’s February 2008 notice of the Postal Service filing; the 2009 notice confirms the 42¢ price by stating that it “increased to 42 cent” in docket R2008-1. The 2009 row is dated by USPS Price List Notice 123 and the PRC notice of February 23, 2009 gives the same 44¢ price. From 2012 on, the row comes from the archived price list. The 2016 row is the one decrease, 49¢ to 47¢ on April 10, 2016. The changes by calendar month, from the dates in the table: January (8), April (1), May (2), July (5), August (1).

The last change in the table followed these steps, each dated in the sources:

1. April 9, 2026: the Postal Service filed its notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission.

   “On April 9, 2026, the Postal Service (USPS) filed a notice of mailing services price adjustments with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), effective July 12, 2026.”

2. April 14, 2026: the PRC published its own notice in the Federal Register, with the intended effective date and the comment period.

   “The intended effective date for the planned price adjustments is July 12, 2026.”

   “The Notice, which was filed pursuant to 39 CFR part 3030, triggers a notice-and-comment proceeding.”

   “Comments are due: May 11, 2026.”

3. May 27, 2026: the PRC issued its order. The PRC rate authority page names it:

   “See Docket No. R2026-1, Order on Price Adjustments for First-Class Mail, USPS Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services Products and Related Mail Classification Changes, May 27, 2026 (Order No. 9584).”

4. June 2, 2026: the Postal Service published its final rule with the mailing standards for the same effective date (91 FR 33030).
5. July 12, 2026: USPS Price List Notice 123 shows 82¢ for the 1-ounce stamped letter, the last row of the table.

The 2008 and 2009 PRC notices in the table describe the same kind of filing, a Postal Service notice to the Commission that states the prices and the intended effective date.

When we checked on November 2, 2026, the Federal Register listed no Postal Regulatory Commission notice headed “Market Dominant Price Adjustment” after July 24, 2026. The notice of that date belongs to docket R2027-1. It covers a Postal Service motion about rate authority, not a stamp price:

That notice describes a motion dated July 16, 2026. In it the Postal Service stated that, subject to the approval of the Governors, it was evaluating a shift of its market dominant price adjustments “to a more traditional January cycle[.]” It also stated that, to pursue a January 2027 market dominant price adjustment, it “must receive approval from the Governors no later than September 2026.” The PRC rate authority page, last updated October 14, 2026, lists no stamp prices; it shows that the latest First-Class Mail price adjustment docket it names is R2026-1, with Order No. 9584. A filing can precede the PRC’s Federal Register notice by days: the Postal Service filed in R2026-1 on April 9, 2026, and the PRC’s notice of it was published on April 14, 2026. In the Federal Register we found no First-Class Mail stamp price or effective date after 82¢ and July 12, 2026.

A Postal Regulatory Commission notice published in the Federal Register on February 23, 2009 (74 FR 8124) described Forever stamps this way. It is a statement from that date, quoted as published:

Table prices above are for a 1-ounce stamped letter. Heavier letters, postcards, large envelopes and international mail have their own prices in USPS Price List Notice 123.