US Postal Service raises stamp price to 82 cents

WASHINGTON - The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will raise the price of stamps for mailing a first-class letter to 82 cents from 78 cents, effective Sunday.

Here are the details:

• USPS, which has warned it could run out of cash early next year, announced in April it would raise mailing costs by 4.8%.

• U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner told Congress last month the agency, which has had net losses of about $120 billion since 2007, has a broken business model and needs help from lawmakers to turn around its operations.

• The volume of first-class mail, its most profitable product, has dropped to 1960s levels as communication has largely gone digital. Yet the agency must maintain costly nationwide delivery operations.

• Steiner thinks Americans would be willing to pay 90 or 95 cents per letter, when much of the world pays $2 or more.

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