Stamps are getting more expensive again

Transcription:

Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching today on TheStreet.

Investors took a victory lap Thursday — pushing the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closes. The new data shows that the economy continues to grow, while inflation cools and the labor market adjusts to a slower pace. In this regard, there are layoffs at Walt Disney. The company has cut about 300 jobs in another round of job cuts.

Wall Street will get big news on the inflation front on Friday when the closely watched personal consumption expenditure index is released. It is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

Related: What to do if you’re behind on your retirement savings

Now back to other headlines – the price of a stamp is about to go up… again and again.

The Post Office plans to increase the cost of a first class stamp five times between now and 2027. The first increase will take place in July 2025 to give inflation more time to fall, the Post Office said. After that, there will be two more increases in 2026, followed by two more in 2027.

In a regulatory filing, the post office said it had to raise rates “given our legal obligation to be financially self-sufficient.”

Few things have experienced the level of inflation seen by a postage stamp. In 1974 it cost just 10 cents, by 2002 it had jumped to 34 cents, and now stands at 73 cents. That’s an amazing 630% increase over a 50-year period.

That will do for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, this is Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

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