The downside of giving up a daily newspaper is that I miss little announcements, such as the following:
It will cost a bit more to mail letters and parcels starting Monday. A first-class letter will go up 2 cents to 41 cents.
But there is also some good news — folks will be able to buy “forever” stamps that remain valid regardless of any future increase.
While the new rates take effect Monday, most post offices are closed on Sunday so officials say items dropped in a box that won’t be collected until Monday should have the higher postage on them.
On the other hand, when rates change the agency usually allows a little leeway, and it doesn’t plan a rash of returns for insufficient postage.
***
While the first-class rate will rise from 39 cents to 41 cents for the first ounce, people sending heavier letters — such as wedding invitations — will see a reduction in the price. That’s because each additional ounce will cost just 17 cents, down from the current 24 cents. That means a two-ounce letter will cost 58 cents to mail, compared with 63 cents now.
Also expected to be attractive to many people is the forever stamp.
The first forever stamps are selling for 41 cents apiece, but they won’t have a price printed on them and they will remain valid for sending a letter regardless of any future increases.
While a forever stamp will always be valid for mailing a latter, that doesn’t mean the price won’t go up. If rates were to increase to 45 cents, for example, that’s what a forever stamp would sell for. But stamps already purchased at a lower cost could still be used without adding extra postage.
International rates are also going up.
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Hey, Thanks, Book — I didn’t know the increase was imminent.
So those of us who are smart will go buy a lifetime’s worth of stamps right now, and damn the increases over coming years.
Nah, JJ, they’ll just pass a law making those stamps illegitimate. It wil happen in a “few years”. That’s what “forever” means these days
How ridiculous is this? Can you imagine applying a stamp that you purchased in 1904 to a letter today?
But JJ actually I agree. There SHOULD be a huge, unmanageable rush at the post office. A massive rush by the intelligent – and trusting. If all is right with the world (and the postal service remains stable as time unwinds) it’s a helluva good investment.
I don’t find our politics – nor our Postal Service – nearly worthy of that kind of trust. Perhaps they’re counting on that distrust to keep demand relatively low.
Seems like the USPS is counting on cashing in on consumers’ iffy math skills. They’ve already printed five billion Forever Stamps and are set to print more on a quick turnaround if there’s sufficient demand.
And sure, if you buy the Forever Stamp now, once rates go up again, the value of the stamp has increased. So it might seem a good bet to buy up a bunch of Forever Stamps to lock in the lower rate.
But given that postage rates typically increase an average of 3% annually and that even a basic savings account offers better return rates than that nowadays, this investment may not really be so sound.
What is a post office ?
I’m waiting for Algore to suggest carbon offset credits for planting a tree and I hope it happens soon because we are going to be landscaping! Free or reduced price forever stamps would be nice.
The Post Office is a weird dynamic these days. Nobody writes letters any more, and the only thing you might use it for is sending packages, and paying bills.
Bills make up 90% of the P.O.’s business these days. The power company, the phone company, the garbage collectors, the vredit cards, etc., etc. Bills. (That’s why the Post Office can’t go on strike any more – who do they damage? Certainly not the public, we don’t care – for us it’s a reprieve from bills, and the power company can’t turn you off if the mail isn’t being delivered.)
And taxes. Every quarter I trot down to the P.O. like a good lad, get the certification job done – and I swear before almighty God there is one idiot in our local post office who asks, every time: “do you need that to get there faster?” (She’s trying to sell me extra postage on my certified quarterly tax payment.) So I finally once said to her: “Lady – it’s taxes. Once I have the proof that I mailed it in a timely fashion, I do not give a rat’s ass if it EVER gets there. Okay?”
I stillhear her asking other people the same q