To me, they are just being silly.
Why not go to 40c or 50c even and stop changing the price every couple of years.
Does anyone still count pennies any more? There’s a penny tray at most checkout counters. And don’t you always round off to the nearest dollar when tipping?
Before you say some big mailers will be impacted, I think they actually get a break. More junk mail and less handwritten. Not an impressive trend, but one that’s hard to argue with. All my correspondence these days is via email. I would never dream of delaying news by actually mailing it. Except photos, and even those are on-line to everyone but my mother, who has no computer.
They’ve not gone up yet. The new rates take effect January 8, so this won’t have any effect on Xmas mailings.
FWIW, I can’t remember the last thing I actually put a stamp on to mail. For me, the USPS is more of an ad-delivery mechanism than anything else. Bills come in email and are paid online. Aside from birthday cards, I don’t get much personal mail.
The real question would be whether or not the USPS is heading towards irrelevance.
I know my budget is going to be all shot to hell now. If this keeps up, I won’t be able to afford that bigger engine for my SUV that I have had my eye on. Why does the government do this to us when we can afford it the least?
I agree. Why not just put them at 50 cents and leave them alone for a few years.
Sure makes it easier to sell a book of 20 for $10, instead of a book of 20 for $7.40 or $7.80. Or put a buck in a machine and get two stamps instead of messing around with all that change.
I would guess the general public couldn’t care less. It’s the big companies whose bottom line it will hit with their mass mailings. And who has the most pull with the law makers? Big business.
I care because if I need to mail something, I’ll have to go and buy a bunch of .02 stamps because I have a ton of .37 stamps (but I don’t mail many things). It’s just annoying. And why .39? It’s a stupid number.
If I were Postmaster General, I would lower the price of handwritten addressed envelopes to 10 cents, and raise the price of computer generated, mass mailings stamps to $1.50.
That would stop a lot of junk mail, and make Aunt Margaret happy when she sent me my next birthday card.
Are you certain that this is the case? I seem to remember differently from the last price increase.
I suspect that the increase is one that can be justified by their cost accounting, and that rounding off can not. But that’s just my … well … 2 cents.
I think that the price of a first class stamp is one of the best values around; perhaps not to the house around the corner, but certainly to send a letter across the country.
That makes we wonder what the most work you can get the Postal Service for that stamp. I would imagine that a mid-winter delivery from an island off the coast of Maine to somewhere in remote Alaska is pretty good deal.
Remember that the Post Office isn’t a pure governement agency. They are responsible for keeping themselves in the black through mail rates just like FedEx or UPS. I am suprised they can do it for so little.
If you have a place to put them where you won’t lose them, buy a sheet each of 1-cent and 2-cent stamps, and you’ll be covered for the next several price increases. I did this several price increases ago (I was exasperated by the prospect of standing in line and spending 7 cents to eke out the remaining stamps on hand, so I spent $3 for long-term coverage), and I still have most of the 2-cent stamps left.
I just stick random amounts of the old ones on the envelope after the price goes up. They don’t care if you pay extra and I have this sneaking suspicion that someone in the Postal system treats you letter with special care if you do so (think First Class Platinum instead of regular First Class). It also makes me feel important to have letters that “require” so many stamps.
