Using an SC post office is about to cost more. Here’s when & how much

The U.S. Postal Service is still losing money — less in 2025 than in 2024, though — and has announced some increases to at least offset some of it.

Specifically shipping services.

Starting Jan. 18, priority mail will increase 6.6%, priority main express service 5.1%, ground advantage 7.8% and parcel select 6%.

The cost of a first class stamp has not risen since last July, when it went from $0.73 to $0.78. Typically, the postal service raises the price in January and July. The cost could increase later this year.

First-Class Mail revenue increased $370 million in 2025, or 1.5%, on a volume decline of 2.2 billion pieces, or 5.0%, compared to the prior year

USPS announced for the 2025 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, saw a net loss of $9 billion, compared to $9.5 billion for 2024. The decrease was from an operating revenue increase of $916 million, transportation expense reductions of $422 million, and a decrease in workers’ compensation expense of $1.1 billion, partially offset by increased compensation and benefits expense of $1.7 billion, and higher other operating expenses of $221 million, a USPS news release said.

“In surveying the results of the past year, the occasional appearance of financial progress – such as our profitable first quarter – is far outweighed by the reality of our significant systemic annual revenue and cost imbalance,” said Postmaster General David Steiner. “To correct our financial imbalances, we must explore new revenue opportunities and public policy changes to improve our business model. Most importantly, we must operate more efficiently and compete more effectively to best perform our public service mission.”

The Postal Service wants to change retiree pension benefit funding rules for the Civil Service Retirement System benefits, diversify pension assets, raise the statutory debt ceiling, and reform workers’ compensation administration.

“The financial results reflect the difficulties of our mandated cost structure and the continued decline in volume, offset to some degree by the Postal Service’s efforts to push back against those trends by aggressively managing the costs we can control and by the judicious use of our pricing authority,” said Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann.

The post office also explained in more detail its postmarks and how that affects the customer.

Your mail might not have a postmark for the same day your carrier picks it up or you drop it off at a retail location. A postal service news release called it a myth that a postmark can be used as proof something was mailed on a certain date, such as a tax payment or ballot.

The postmark represents the date the mail was processed.

The Postal Service says customers can make sure their mail is postmarked on the day they desire by taking it to a local post office and asking for a manual postmark.

No charge, USPS officials said.