The U.S. Postal Service will have to roll back a portion of its largest rate increase in 11 years after a federal court ruled that the higher postage prices in place since January 2014 can’t be permanent. 
 
 Postal regulators had agreed to a 3-cent emergency postage hike for first-class letters, to 49 cents from 46 cents, after the Postal Service said it needed to recoup billions of dollars it lost during the recession. The 4.3 percent increase came on top of the customary 1.7 percent postage prices have risen to adjust for inflation. 
 
 But regulators set a cap on the amount of revenue USPS could recoup with the higher prices. The cap will be reached this summer. 
 
 [Read about the historic rate increase ] 
 
 USPS and the industry representing bulk mailers filed legal challenges as soon as the price increase took effect, with mailers challenging the recession’s justification for higher rates and the post office — which had pressed regulators for a 6 percent increase — arguing that the hike should be permanent. 
 
 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the emergency rates should not become permanent. The aftereffects of the recession have become “the new normal,” the ruling said — and the Postal Service must adjust to that reality. 
 
 “The Commission sensibly concluded that the statutory exception allowing higher rates when needed to respond to extraordinary financial circumstances should only continue as long as those circumstances, in fact, remained extraordinary,” Circuit Judge Patricia Ann Millet wrote on behalf of the appeals court. “The Commission permissibly reasoned that just because some of the effects of exigent circumstances may continue for the foreseeable future, that does not mean that those circumstances remain ‘extraordinary’ or ‘exceptional’ for just as long.” 
 
 But the court also said the Postal Regulatory Commission had acted arbitrarily in calculating that postal officials should collect about $3 billion from the rate increased, and told the commision to re-examine its methods. As of Friday, it was unclear when the rates will be rolled back and by how much. 
 
 “The continuation of the exigent pricing surcharge is critical to the Postal Service’s financial health…” Katina Fields, a USPS spokeswoman, said in a statement. 
 
 The mailing industry claimed victory. “We are happy that the court rejected the Postal Service attempt to make a temporary surcharge last forever,” Stephen Kearney, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, said in a statement. “Maintaining the affordability of mail will help ensure that our nation’s postal system remains healthy for years to come. Stamps should be forever, but not surcharges.” 
 
 Rolling back the price from 49 cents may be easier than it seems. While the price of a first-class letter jumped to 49 cents in January 2014, the Postal Service did not print new stamps to reflect the change. Instead, it relied on its popular line of “Forever” stamps, which now costs 49 cents instead of 46. With the court ruling, USPS will again revise the price of the Forever stamp. ||||| Skip in Skip x Embed x Share The U.S. Postal Service says it will lose $2 billion a year with the price change. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 
 
 In this Feb. 7, 2013 file photo, a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier gathers mail to load into his truck before making his delivery run in the East Atlanta neighborhood in Atlanta. The cost of mailing a letter is going down. Beginning Sunday, April 10, 2016, the price of a first-class stamp drops two cents, to 47 cents. The reduction is the result of an expiring surcharge that had been put in place in January 2014 to help the beleaguered Postal Service recoup $4.6 billion in losses dating back to the Great Recession. (Photo: David Goldman, AP) 
 
 Mailing letters, postcards and parcels gets cheaper Sunday as the U.S. Postal Service drops its prices for the first time in 100 years. 
 
 First-class letters will drop from 49 cents to 47 cents, and postcards from 35 cents to 34 cents. 
 
 Stamp prices typically go up slightly every few years to keep pace with inflation, but for the past two years customers paid an “exigent surcharge” implemented to help the Postal Service survive the Great Recession. 
 
 The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) ordered the Postal Service to roll back that temporary price hike, meaning customers will pay less going forward. 
 
 Postal Service managers are unhappy, arguing the mandated price reduction will add $2 billion in annual losses. The Postal Service is subject to some Congressional mandates, and managers say they need more freedom for their semi-independent agency. Postal Service managers are already asking Congress to cancel the rollback, which generated $4.6 million for operations. 
 
 “Given our precarious financial condition and ongoing business needs, the price reduction required by the PRC exacerbates our losses,” Postmaster General and CEO Megan J. Brennan said in a statement. Brennan previously called the rollback “irrational.” 
 
 The Postal Service has been hit hard by consumers’ transition from written letters to emails, texts and social media messages, and its pricing structure as governed by the PRC is based largely on first-class letters. The problem is the Postal Service is delivering less mail but must still maintain the infrastructure necessary to deliver to 155 million addresses in the country. 
 
 The Postal Service receives no tax dollars, and instead must generate all of its own revenue. The change may require recalibration of office postage machines, although the move to Forever Stamps means they don't have to be reprinted. On the other hand, the price drop means people who bought Forever Stamps when they were 49 cents are losing 2 cents of value for each one they own. 
 
 Stamp prices were last lowered July 1, 1919, dropping from 3 cents to 2 cents per ounce. 
 
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– The price of a postage stamp will soon go back down from 49 cents, thanks to a US appeals court. The US Postal Service instituted a 3-cent increase—its biggest in 11 years—in January of last year in an emergency measure, arguing that it had lost billions in the recession and badly needed to make up for the loss. Regulators agreed, but said USPS could only recoup about $3 billion from the move—and that limit will be hit this summer. The Postal Service had filed a legal challenge to fight to make the increase permanent, but the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed, the Washington Post reports. It is not clear when, exactly, the roll-back will occur, but no new stamps need to be printed: The USPS never made 49-cent stamps, but simply sold its "Forever" stamps for 49 cents instead of 46 cents. The court noted that the reasoning for the rate increase was "extraordinary financial circumstances," and those circumstances are no longer extraordinary. The economic situation today, post-recession, is "the new normal," and the USPS has to make it work, the court said. The bulk mailing industry had legally challenged the rate increase, and an industry rep praised the decision: "Stamps should be forever, but not surcharges." Interestingly, when the AP reported the court's Friday move, it framed it as a loss for the bulk mail industry, since the court did uphold the temporary rate hike—a 4.3% increase that came on top of the typical 1.7% for inflation—it just didn't agree with the idea of making it permanent. As for when the higher rate will end, the AP says "later this year."