Postage Stamp Prices Will Be Reduced for fhe First Time on 97 Years

The last time the United States Post Office reduced the price of a first class stamp, movies were silent pictures and the Internet was still decades away from existence. In recent years, we’ve become accustomed to periodic hikes in stamp prices as economic instability and new communication technologies plague the Postal Service. But soon—for the first time since stamp prices dropped from 3 cents to 2 cents in 1919—the Post Office will be lowering the price of stamps instead of raising it.

On April 10, the price of a first class stamp will drop from 49 cents to 47 cents, according to CNN. Postcard stamps, meanwhile, will drop from 35 cents to 34 cents, and international stamps will drop from $1.20 to $1.15. 

The reduction marks the end of a 2014 deal with Congress which allowed the Post Office to increase their prices. That deal, which was designed to help the struggling Post Office raise money, expires this spring, and Congress is refusing to renew it. Despite increases in package shipping in recent years, the Post Office officials say the company is still struggling to make up for the decrease in first-class mail revenue, and is reluctant to reduce stamp prices. But while the Post Office is dropping its prices begrudgingly, the new stamp prices are sure to make all of the pen pals, letter writers, and birthday card-sending grandparents of the world rejoice this April.