The United States Postal Service (USPS) on Sunday, April 10, dropped the price of postage stamps by 2 cents for the first time in almost a century.

Stamps now cost 47 cents each, down from the 49 cents, a decline that’s expected to cost USPS $2 billion this year. The expected loss will make it more difficult for the government mail carrier to compete and provide services sought by customers.

“Given our precarious financial condition and ongoing business needs, the price reduction…exacerbates our losses,” Postmaster General Megan Brennan said in a statement Thursday, April 7, as it filed a petition seeking a new rate-setting process. “This unfortunate decision heightens the importance of the review of our ratemaking system.”

USPS is not funded by taxpayer dollars, and it depends on its own revenue sources – such as postage – to cover its operating costs.

Stamp prices have typically risen to cope with inflation, but customers have paid an “exigent surcharge” in the last two years to help keep USPS alive during the Great Recession, a time when businesses cut back on mailing. The agency was granted permission to raise rates in 2014, at which time it tacked on 3 cents to bring the price of stamps up to 49 cents each. However, the increase was only meant to be temporary and is required to rollback 2 cents this year.

USPS has been hit hard by the transition from written letters to electronic communication like emails and text messages. Although it delivers less mail today, it still needs to maintain the infrastructure needed to deliver mail to 155 million addresses in the United States.

Prices for postage stamps last fell in July 1919 when it went down from 3 cents to 2 cents per ounce. (Agnes Constante/AJPress)