The same U.S. government that is fighting inflation is also succumbing to it: the price of stamps and postage is once again moving higher. Prices on first-class mail stamps will rise to 66 cents from 63 cents in July, pending approval from regulators, according to CNN. 

The price hike - which is being put in place to "offset a rise in operating expenses" - amounts to about a 5.4% hike. Someone should tell the government those hikes are "above the Fed's 2% target". 

Among those expenses are a rise in wages and increasing costs of doing business. “These price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue,” the post office commented in a statement. 

The price of postcards will also go up, from 48 cents to 51 cents. International postcards will see their prices rise from $1.45 to $1.50.

As the report notes, regulators turning down USPS requests for prices hikes are rare, though it did happen in 2010 because the Post Office “failed both to quantify the impact of the recession on its finances and to show how its rate request relates to the resulting loss of mail volume.”

The post office expects to lose $4.5 billion in 2023 and we're sure these price hikes will do little to help rectify the bottom line. But hey, raising prices 5.4% while the Fed clamors for 2% inflation all while burning cash is American as apple pie.

Maybe the Post Office should take itself public on the NASDAQ via SPAC, where the market would value it on a price/sales basis instead of focusing on pesky details like actual net income and cash generation...