July 12 Stamp Price Hike Highlights the Need for Congress to Correct USPS Mistakes

• (July 9, 2026) — Washington, DC — With another hike in stamps and postage prices due to take effect on Sunday, Keep US Posted, a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses, urges lawmakers to put the Postal Service on a new path and enhance the PRC’s mandate and power to make sure the status quo of raising prices while cutting services does not continue. Despite a leadership change at USPS, former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan continues, diminishing mail volume and customers.  These issues have been discussed extensively in four hearings this year in the House and Senate oversight committees and it is now imperative that Congress act to put the USPS on a sustainable course.  “The Postal Service must be saved, but more service cuts and blank checks are not the answer,” said former Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), executive director of Keep US Posted, in his comments to the Subcommittee. “Congress has heard from Postmaster General Steiner and stakeholders and must now act swiftly to provide short-term financial relief combined with stronger PRC oversight, including a CPI-based price cap and measurable cost controls, to hold USPS accountable for providing quality service, affordable prices and a verifiable path to solvency that minimizes any ultimate financial assistance from taxpayers.”  “The Postal Service’s continued calls to dilute PRC oversight and pursue a failed agenda must be rejected in favor of a new, course that ensures accountability,” Yoder continued. “When DeJoy unveiled the 10-year Delivering for America plan in 2021, he projected USPS would break even by fiscal year 2023 thanks to aggressive, frequent rate increases, operational service cuts and a pivot to packages over mail. Yet instead of breaking even, USPS has lost more than $30 billion since then—despite the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which eliminated $120 billion in liabilities. USPS liabilities should be accurately assessed and it should be allowed to invest its remaining assets in funds that provide a greater return but any agency that has received such massive financial and balance sheet aid, yet continues to lose money and forecasts insolvency in only a few years requires stronger supervision to meet the expectations of Congress and its customers.”  Keep US Posted urged Congress to enact legislation that provides responsible financial relief combined with the provisions contained in H.R.3004, The USPS SERVES US Act:   ACCESSIBILITY: Preserve the Universal Service Obligation requiring six-day mail and package delivery to every address. AFFORDABILITY: Limit rate hikes to once per year and keep them affordable for small businesses and consumers. A CPI-based price cap for Market Dominant products would require USPS to improve efficiency and live within its means. Any service reductions must be required to provide guaranteed savings. ACCOUNTABILITY: Strengthen the PRC’s oversight with binding authority over service changes and a dedicated customer advocate to ensure USPS improves efficiency and cost discipline to live within its means.  About Keep US Posted  Keep US Posted is a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs and small businesses — all united in the belief that a reliable, affordable U.S. Postal Service is essential to our way of life and should be protected. Keep US Posted supports alternatives to current and future efforts to slow the mail and increase postage rates. To learn more, visit www.KeepUSPosted.org.