The U.S. Postal Service unveiled the "Betty White Forever Stamp" on Thursday during a ceremony at the Los Angeles
Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

On July 26, 1775, the U.S. postal system was established by the
Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin (1706-1790) put in place the
foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system.

The first two stamps printed by the U.S. Postal Service
featured Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

The United States Postal Service issued its first-ever postage
stamps on this day in history.

The first postage stamps produced by the United States Postal
Service (USPS) were sold in New York City, according to the
USPS website.

The two stamps came in two designs and sold for five cents
and 10 cents. (FOX NEWS)

Sir Rowland Hill is a British inventor credited with inventing
the first postage stamp.

(AP) – The United States Postal Service officially announced the
price of Forever stamps and other postage will go up on Jan. 22,
2023. The move has been anticipated for months after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in August that increases would be
necessary to keep up with costs. Inflation was expected to add
$1 billion to the Postal Service’s operating budget. 

The USPS plans to increase prices of affected postage by 4.2%,
which amounts to a few cents per stamp. The cost of a Forever
stamp would go up 3 cents, from 60 cents to 63 cents. The price
of Forever stamps just went up in July from 58 cents to 60 cents.

A year ago, the stamps cost 55 cents.

Postmaster general Louis DeJoy (65).

The Post Office Department issued its first postage stamps
on July 1, 1847.

Initial United States postage rates were set by Congress as part
of the Postal Service Act signed into law by President George Washington on February 20, 1792. The postal rate varied according
to "distance zone", the distance a letter was to be carried from the
post office where it entered the mail to its final destination.

Rates were adopted in 1847 for mail to or from the Pacific Coast
and in 1848 for mail sent from one place in the west to another
place in the west. There were double and triple rates as a letter’s
size increased. There were ship fees which were also added
(i.e. mail to Hawaii). The ship fee, including the ship rate on letters
for delivery at the port of entry, were on a per letter basis, rather
than weight. The United States issued its first postage stamps in
1847. Before that time, the rates, dates and origin of the letter
were written by hand or sometimes in combination with a
handstamp device.