Starting Jan. 27, it’ll cost just a little bit more to send a letter to a loved one or pay that bill in a good old-fashioned envelope, according to United States Postal Service officials.

For a look at how postal costs could affect your business, click here.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox.

The Postal Service also is offering a First-Class Mail Global “Forever” Stamp.  The new stamp will allow customers to mail letters anywhere in the world for one set price of $1.10, and is among new mailing and shipping services filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission.

The price for First-Class Mail single-piece letters will increase by just a penny when prices change in Jan.  

The new 0.46 cent “Forever” stamps will allow customers to mail letters to any location in the United States. Forever stamps are always good for mailing a one-ounce letter anytime in the future regardless of price changes. (Click here for information on how to order new commemorative stamps for Monday’s inauguration.)

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 27, 2013 include:

• Letters (1oz.) — 1-cent increase to 46 cents
• Letters additional ounces — unchanged at 20 cents
• Letters to all international destinations (1oz.) — $1.10
• Postcards — 1-cent increase to 33 cents

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) is reviewing prices before they become effective Jan. 27. Today’s Shipping and Mailing price filings will be available on the PRC website at www.prc.gov and the new Mailing Service prices will also be available at http://pe.usps.com.

Shipping Services
Several new Shipping Services products will be available in January. Free tracking will be offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post).

Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering.

A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes will continue to be offered by the Postal Service.

New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:

• Small box — $5.80
• Medium box — $12.35
• Large box — $16.85
• Large APO/FPO box — $14.85
• Regular envelope — $5.60
• Legal envelope — $5.75
• Padded envelope — $5.95

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
# # #

Fast facts about the USPS from the federal government:
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail.

If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500.

In 2011, the U.S. Postal Service was ranked No. 1 in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world, Oxford Strategic Consulting. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity.
The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPS.