Today’s Postage Rate Increase
Cidu Bill on May 12th 2008
…or as most of you are probably thinking right now, “today’s what???”
I can’t remember — and I’m old enough to recall the 4-cent stamp replacing the 3-cent stamp — an increase in the first-class mail rate receiving this little publicity. Could it be that first-class mail is simply irrelevant now?
(When my son went off to college last September, I offered to buy him a bunch of envelopes and stamps. He said “That’ll be helpful if I ever want to contact somebody really, really slowly”)
Still, I foresee credit card companies reaping huge late fees, as people’s payments get returned to them for insufficient postage and have to be re-mailed.
Filed in Bill Bickel, USPS | 20 responses so far
NoAlias May 12th 2008 at 07:23 pm 1
Last year, the post office got a new deal for raising stamp prices. I think it’s tied to the rate of inflation or something like that. Now they don’t have to get special permission to raise prices, so you can look for the cost of stamps to go up every year. Buy Forever stamps - they’re ugly, but rise in value to match the price increases.
pepperjackcandy May 12th 2008 at 07:26 pm 2
Could it be that first-class mail is simply irrelevant now?
I think this pretty much sums it up.
I seem to remember reading something recently that said that we’ll never get a do-not-snail-mail-spam list like the do-not-call list for telemarketers because snail-spam is the major source of revenue for the USPS.
(When my son went off to college last September, I offered to buy him a bunch of envelopes and stamps. He said “That’ll be helpful if I ever want to contact somebody really, really slowly”)
Hee!
Still, I foresee credit card companies reaping huge late fees, as people’s payments get returned to them for insufficient postage and have to be re-mailed.
As my dbil would say, “Ah, jeeze.”
Of course, I’ve always thought the trick to this is to put the creditor’s name and address as the return address, rather than one’s own. That way even if it’s undeliverable, it’ll get to the right place.
Dave Van Domelen May 12th 2008 at 07:54 pm 3
I saw it on the news repeatedly today, and over the weekend too. But I do expect the Forever Stamps bit blunted the usual nervousness, since no one had to buy funny special stamps released just ahead of the change, or any 1c stamps.
Bah humbug May 12th 2008 at 08:14 pm 4
I use about three stamps a year, because I email my friends, and I pay bills on-line through company websites (no stamps whatsoever) and through my bank (they pay the postage).
BTW… I remember going on a field trip from elementary school to our nearby teeny post office waaaaay back in the 60’s, and even back then the statistics about the percentage of USPS income from commercial bulk mail was huge. I could be wrong, but I remember the postmaster telling us that bulk mail revenue was something like 85% of all mail revenue.
Count Shrimpula May 12th 2008 at 08:21 pm 5
You pay your credit card bills through the mail? How quaint.
I’ve never mailed a physical check off for any of my bills. In fact, really the only thing I’ve ever had to use physical checks for at all is my rent, and I just bring those downstairs and hand them to my landlord.
I actually got a “starter” checkbook when I opened my checking account, and I only just had to order new checks recently, about 6 or 7 years after I opened the account when I started paying said rent. I pay everything online with my check card. And the only time I ever send anything through the mail is when I’m sending a package. I don’t ever send actual letters.
Cidu Bill May 12th 2008 at 09:31 pm 6
I don’t, Count; but I have it on good authority that some people still do.
Cedar May 12th 2008 at 10:51 pm 7
I’m probably closer to your son’s age than to your age, Bill, but I still mail things quite often, and I like having stamps in my house. I still mail in my rent check and electricity bill, plus cards and such. When my Sig O was abroad a few years ago, I wrote him letters–I liked the idea of him having something to keep and hold.
Daijinryuu May 13th 2008 at 01:57 am 8
I go through tons of stamps. My bank doesn’t actually have any outlets in this state, so I have to mail all my paychecks. It’s a bit irritating.
Plus the gas company doesn’t accept card payments, so if I want to do that without hiking all the way over there I have to mail a check.
Powers May 13th 2008 at 07:33 am 9
I actually think it has more to do with the new every-May-we-can-raise-the-price increase *plus* the availability and popularity of the “Forever” stamps, moreso than the decreasing demand for stamps.
I personally don’t like the Forever stamps. First, there’s only the one design. Second, I figure my money will appreciate more in a savings account than in the form of stamps.
Rasheed May 13th 2008 at 10:48 am 10
It would crack me up royally when I would get mail and someone was already using their Forever stamps!
Kaitlyn May 13th 2008 at 10:49 am 11
(When my son went off to college last September, I offered to buy him a bunch of envelopes and stamps. He said “That’ll be helpful if I ever want to contact somebody really, really slowly”)
I actually mailed a few things off in the fall semester - though I didn’t need stamps I’d never use, since the campus post office had everything.
Of course, it was a total waste, as I went to school 30 minutes away.
I did need a mailbox, however, if I wanted to get a city library card.
And my mom still mails off some bills - the ones in town she physically takes to the offices.
Rich May 13th 2008 at 12:47 pm 12
My next door neighbor worked for the post office. He was a head honcho of some sort. He stayed here (Michigan) only two years and I noticed that he sold his house for 50k less than what he paid for it. I’m sure the post office paid all his expenses, so that has to be about 6 million letters sent at the 1 cent increase. Probably a drop in the bucket, but still irritating
Robyn May 13th 2008 at 01:26 pm 13
Jan 2005 I bought 150 I Love You stamps for my daughter’s ‘Save the Date” cards, and promptly misplaced them. Re-bought 150 more, sent the cards and wrote off the original batch.
Fast forward, July 2006, moving, find the original 150 37 cents stamps. Promptly went out and bought 150 2 cent stamps, since first class was now 39 cents.
Today I am the proud owner of 100 37 cents stamps and God knows how many 2 cent stamps, because I had to put TWO 2 cent stamps on for the last year, and now I need one cent stamps! As you can see, I use an average of 2 stamps a month, I am set with first class stamps until the year 2016. These have turned into MY forever stamps, because it will take forever for me to use them all up!
Kevin Andresen May 13th 2008 at 05:16 pm 14
This reminds me of when TV Guide went from 15 cents to 25 cents (or maybe it was to 20) back in the 1970s.
The editor wrote a full page (as it was) letter explaining, in detail, why after so many years, it needed to be done.
I’m still moved just thinking about it.
So every subsequent time I looked for an acknowledgement; they never mentioned an increase again.
Master Flare May 13th 2008 at 05:21 pm 15
Rasheed: Ugh, I totally agree with you there. Unfortunately, I am living with someone who does that. Said significant other only buys stamp books from automated stamp vending machines, and seems to only have the option of buying books of Forever Stamps. While I have tried to explain the concept of a Forever Stamp to him, I don’t think he gets it. Not that I can fathom how the concept is hard to understand…
Alia May 13th 2008 at 05:46 pm 16
Since Forever stamps cost exactly as much as a first-class stamp, what does it matter if someone used it before this week? They either spent 41 cents for a Forever stamp or 41 cents for a first-class stamp; either way, they used a 41-cent stamp. It seems like mocking someone for using four quarters to buy something instead of a one-dollar bill.
Hunt May 14th 2008 at 08:24 am 17
It seems to me that once you’ve used up all your old stamps, you should only buy and use Forever stamps. With them, there is never the risk that they will become inadequate for first class mail.
Todd May 14th 2008 at 04:43 pm 18
I’ve always wondered how much it costs to print each stamp. Probably more than two cents. So when the post office would increase the price of mailing, it would take them half a year to pay off printing all those extra stamps.
An alternative to the forever stamps would have been to start selling the higher cost stamps a month before the new effective date, but allow old stamps to be used for two months after the date without additional postage.
When I first saw the forever stamps, I thought, it’s about time. Now that I know that the post office gets to raise the price of stamps every year without informing us, I’m quite a bit ticked.
If I had known of the price increase, I definitely would have bought at least one extra book.
Oy vey May 15th 2008 at 11:41 pm 19
To those who laugh at people who use forever stamps right away: if I were to buy stamps tomorrow, I would buy forever stamps so they’d “never” be obsolete (I still doubt the “forever” claim will be honored forever), but I wouldn’t buy more than a few stamps more more than I needed. I don’t see the value of giving the USPS more of my money now for services to be rendered at some unspecified time in the future, just so I can save a penny or 2 per letter. I don’t feel like safely and dryly storing the stamps and remembering where they are - and if the stamps are damaged, lost, or stolen, you’re out of the money anyway.
This reminds me of EZ-Pass. Even though I used bridges and turnpikes very often when I moved to NJ, I didn’t get EZ-Pass for a long time because I didn’t like to hand them my money in advance. Then when I started using the NJ Tpk every day for work, I finally got EZ-Pass because it was just easier, I didn’t have to save receipts, and I got an immediate discount for using it (especially in off-peak hours). I just set my debit amount and minimum balance for the lowest possible amounts, since the fee was just a dollar a month whether they had to debit your checking account once a day or once a month. Oops, they’ll probably change that now…
Oy vey May 15th 2008 at 11:59 pm 20
BTW: In theory, the USPS could honor all stamps forever - not just the “forever” stamps - with pretty-much the same financial results (it’s not like any stamps really have different printing costs). But the USPS is counting on people wanting to buy prettier stamps despite the static value and built-in obsolescence, so they intentionally make the forever stamps dull/ugly. Plus most of USPS’ income comes from bulk mail anyway - which should be bearing the brunt of any increase - so I try to mail as little first-class mail as possible, in protest.
By the way… did anyone else see last week’s SNL? On Weekend Update, the story went something like this (I’m paraphrasing): “The Postal Service announced it’s raising the price of First Class postage by one cent. ‘Aw, that’s cute,’ said oil.”