New rates mean new stamps

New stamps and new rates are on the way.

The U.S. Postal Service declared many times in recent months that there would be an increase in rates for U.S. postage. Now we know what that increase will be. New rates go into effect June 30.

First-class rates will be 37 cents, an increase of three cents from the present 34-cent price tag.

New rates mean new stamps. There will be five nondenominated stamps scheduled for issuance in late July. Four of them will feature antique toys and one will display the U.S. flag.

The Antique Toys stamps will portray a mail wagon, a steam locomotive, a taxi and a fire engine.

Also scheduled to help postal customers with the new increases is a 3-cent “make up rate” stamp depicting a star highlighted in red, white and blue, making it convenient for those having 34-cent stamps on hand.

And there’s more. Coming soon on the USPS schedule will be a 23-cent Carlsbad Caverns stamped card, the ribbon star, a 37-cent stamped envelope, the Official Mail 37-cent stamp and stamped envelope, the Jefferson Memorial $3.85 Priority Mail rate stamp, the U.S. Capitol $13.65 Express Mail rate stamp, the Coverlet Eagle 60-cent “second ounce” rate stamp and the Edna Ferber 83-cent “three ounce” rate stamp that will feature a scratch-board portrait of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short-story writer.

Watch here for information regarding first-day covers.