If you’ve been stocking up on Forever stamps since the last price hike at the beginning of 2014, we have some bad news: those the price of first-class stamps will fall by 2¢ down to 47¢ this weekend. That might perhaps causing slight annoyance for consumers, but will hurt the U.S. Postal Service financially. The price cut, you see, wasn’t their idea.

The price cut came from the government entity that regulates the postal service, the logically named Postal Regulatory Commission. The original price hike for letters back in 2014 was actually a surcharge enacted to help the postal service’s cash flow, and the PRC ordered that the postal service roll back that surcharge.

The Postmaster General estimates that the price cuts for domestic and international letters will cost the USPS $2 billion per year.

Here are the changes that people who buy stamps can expect:

Stamps for letters weighing one ounce or less now cost 49¢, and will cost 47¢ as of Sunday.
Additional ounces for letters now cost 22¢, and will cost 21¢.
International letters now cost $1.20, and will cost $1.15.
Postcards now cost 35¢, and will cost 34¢.

Commercial rates will also decrease, but your postage meter or online service should calculate that for you if you’re shipping in bulk.

​Why the USPS Forever stamps aren’t living up to their name [CBS News] (Warning: auto-play video at that link)

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