The United States Postal Service has made changes to its pricing for shipping and mailing services, effective tomorrow. The change that most people remarked is the 1-cent increase for First-Class Mail letters, from 41 cents to 42 cents. Nearly all services have new prices, which are allegedly better suited for today's market.

"These innovative pricing incentives will make our products more attractive to all shippers, especially small businesses. We’re pricing our products to sell in today’s competitive shipping market," said Postmaster General John Potter in a statement.

Also, mailing a postcard also costs a penny more, or 4 percent, with a new 27 cents price. The new pricing scheme appears to be triggered by poor financial results announced May 7. The USPS reported a fiscal second-quarter net loss of $707 million.

The restructured price list offers some savings, among which reduced Express Mail prices for items shipped to addresses closer to home, lower online postage prices for Express Mail and Priority Mail and Volume Express Mail price rebates for frequent shippers.

"Pricing has always been important to the Postal Service. Now, with greater pricing flexibility than ever, our customers have more choices, and we can price quickly in response to customer needs and the marketplace," said USPS Pricing and Classification Vice President Stephen Kearney in a statement.

The United States Postal Service was founded in 1776 under Benjamin Franklin by decree of the Second Continental Congress. It enjoys a statutory monopoly on non-urgent First Class Mail, outbound U.S. international letters, as well the exclusive right to put mail in private mailboxes.