May 07 2008
Going Postal
The cost of the Forever stamp goes up on Monday. So I am throwing my .01¢ worth of thoughts on this matter.
The cost of sending a first-class letter will rise a penny to 42 cents on May 12, but the Forever stamps — currently selling for 41 cents — will remain valid for full postage after the increase.
Forever stamps were introduced last year and since then more than six billion have been sold, people are stocking up as the rate increase nears.
The post office sold $267,696,023 in Forever stamps in March, up from $207,900,132 in February and $115,303,031 in January.
Unlike the Forever stamps, other 41-cent stamps WILL require additional postage when the new rates take effect, and postal officials said they printed an additional 1.5 billion 1-cent stamps in anticipation of the demand.
Also, for the first time the Postal Service has stamps available at the new rate before the change takes effect.
Wow! You can pay more earlier! Now that’s progress.
But don’t wait forever, because starting Monday, May 12 the cost of Forever stamps goes up to 42 cents too. I realize it’s a penny we are talking about here. Nothing to get your knickers in a knot about.
And even as the higher rates near, the post office is seeing higher gasoline prices eat away at its budget. It has been estimated that each penny increase in the price of gas costs the post office $8 million a year.
Postage rates last went up in May 2007, with a first-class stamp jumping 2 cents to the current 41-cent rate.
The first-class postal rate is the one that most people notice, but other prices will also rise.
In the past, raising postage rates was a complex process involving hearings before the independent Postal Regulatory Commission, a process that could take nearly a year.
But under the new law regulating the post office that took effect in late 2006, the agency can increase rates with 45-days notice as long as changes are within the rate of inflation for the previous 12 months. The Postal Regulatory Commission calculated that at 2.9 percent through January. That limited the first-class rate to an increase of just over a penny.
Under the new law, postal prices will be adjusted each May, the Postal Service said. Officials said they plan to give 90 days notice of future changes, twice what is required by law. Consider me wowed.
While the charge for the first ounce of a first-class letter rises to 42 cents, the price of each added ounce will remain 17 cents, so a two-ounce letter will go up a penny to 59 cents.
The cost to mail a post card will also go up a penny, to 27 cents.
So to recap:
• Use up old 41 cent stamps that are not Forever stamps or you have to buy .01 cent stamps for them to work after Monday
• Stock up on Forever stamps at the lower rate, because they are still good (thus the name Forever Stamp).
It would be cool to have a stash & 5 years from now when it costs $4 bucks to mail a letter you can whip out your .41¢ Forever stamps and be happy. Not exactly a get rich quick scheme… but if you do mail a fair amount of items, it adds up.
4 responses so far
When I married the ball and chain..he went through a book of stamps every month. I taught him to pay them online..for gratis.
At my house now, we pay 99% of our bills online. The rest are paid by going into the office when the ball and chain is out and about.
But the price of gas is making his office trips unrealistic now too.
Bastards get ya one way or another!
Yea, seems like everyone is nickel & dime-ing us, and it is just a penny increase, but last year it was two & with oil prices going up, you know they are gonna pass the cost on to customers. Now people will be hoarding rice & stamps.
Frans last blog post..The circus begins…
Rice and stamps..I just about shat myself
Tsk silly, you’re not sposta mix’em…eat’em one at a time, like they wuz intended!