# First-class U.S. postage back up to 49¢ Sunday **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671 "2017-01-20T23:45:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/1 "2017-01-20T23:45:04Z")
This Sunday, January 22, first-class postage will once again be 49 cents, as the 2-cents-off sale expires. Damn, I remember when postage was 3 cents, and people complained when it was raised to 4 cents. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/2 "2017-01-21T00:58:45Z")
I checked this against the rate of inflation since 1957 (the last full year that US postage was 3 cents). Based on 1957, if it followed strictly the rate of inflation postage should now be 26 cents. However, I think postage was kept artificially low, and heavily subsidized, since postage was 3 cents all the way from 1932 to 1958. So if we look at the rate of inflation since 1932, postage should be 53 cents. Postage in 1974 was 10 cents; following inflation it should now be 49 cents. So all in all it seems to have followed the rate of inflation reasonably closely. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/3 "2017-01-21T13:01:05Z")
I remember when I cared about the cost of first class mail, up through about maybe 15 years ago, because posting letters was the standard mode of long distance communication, not to mention paying bills and ordering stuff by mail. A rise in the rate meant having to buy a bunch of 1 or 2 cent stamps. Then they came out with Forever stamps and just about all that stuff went online. I now have used the same book of 20 Forever stamps, down to the last one now, for about five years. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/4 "2017-01-21T13:28:11Z")
It’s been Federal law for quite a while now that postage rate increases cannot exceed inflation. Which is really, really stupid. (The previous temporary rate increase required special authorization.) The drop in use of first class mail has completely changed the economics of that part of the mail. (They also aren’t free to close excess post offices, cut back on delivery, etc. Remember: when someone complains that a quasi-governmental agency isn’t doing well financially, it’s not because of mis-management, it’s because of Congressional interference. ) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/5 "2017-01-21T16:21:02Z")
I’ll have to check the cost of the DVDs I mail out. For all the crap it gets, the USPS does a great job for me. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/6 "2017-01-21T17:37:01Z")
Thank you! I needed stamps and went and bought two things of stamps and saved a bit. Glad to see them having a “sale”! Now if my water and electric company would have a sale too, that would be dandy… ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/7 "2017-01-23T17:55:31Z")
change again? Already? Idiots. Just fuckin round it up to 50 cents and move the fuck on…idiots. Sending packages USPS is a farce too. Might as well go UPS. (USPS)You ask to send the package as cheap as possible, they weigh it, they tell you the price but its just about the same rate as first class…what the fuck? Idiots ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/8 "2017-01-23T20:24:32Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I checked this against the rate of inflation since 1957 (the last full year that US postage was 3 cents). Based on 1957, if it followed strictly the rate of inflation postage should now be 26 cents. > > However, I think postage was kept artificially low, and heavily subsidized, since postage was 3 cents all the way from 1932 to 1958. So if we look at the rate of inflation since 1932, postage should be 53 cents. > > Postage in 1974 was 10 cents; following inflation it should now be 49 cents. > > So all in all it seems to have followed the rate of inflation reasonably closely. You’re forgetting something; you are comparing surface rates from back then to what are in effect air mail rates today. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/9 "2017-01-23T21:30:41Z")
I remember buying a roll of 100 stamps for $6, then $8… back in the olden days when I used to write tons of letters to family and friends. These days, a book of 20 will last about a year - they’re pretty much just used to send in payments that aren’t accepted electronically. And those become fewer and fewer as time goes on. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/10 "2017-01-23T21:48:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > … Damn, I remember when postage was 3 cents, and people complained when it was raised to 4 cents. Wow. That was a 33% increase. I bet you could have gotten a decent sized gumball for that penny. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/11 "2017-01-23T21:49:38Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > You’re forgetting something; you are comparing surface rates from back then to what are in effect air mail rates today. And you are forgetting something else. First class mail today can be several times slower than air mail not long ago. If I mail a first-class letter to an address across the street, it takes 3 days to get there; 4 days if a Sunday is included, and 5 days if a Sunday plus a holiday is involved. That’s because there is no local sorting. _All_ mail from my office must travel to a sorting center 200 miles away, then back again. And the sorting center doesn’t work at night or on holidays anymore, neither do the transport trucks. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/12 "2017-01-24T00:57:01Z")
I mail hundreds of packages a year, first class from Kansas City to the Chicago area, and almost always receive 2nd day service. I’ve always had much worse service from UPS, and if I am offered a choice, I’ll always choose USPS delivery of anything I’ve ordered. Amusingly, at my Kansas City apartment, most items being delivered ground by UPS or FedEx are ultimately delivered by USPS. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/13 "2017-01-24T06:47:10Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Amusingly, at my Kansas City apartment, most items being delivered ground by UPS or FedEx are ultimately delivered by USPS. That’s because it’s the cheapest way to send something by UPS or FedEx. (And the slowest. FedEx and UPS almost always deliver stuff to my local post office too late to be delivered that day.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/14 "2017-01-24T07:19:29Z")
I am always pleasantly surprised with how cheap it is to mail anything by first class mail. For forty something cents, I can have a small stack of papers hand delivered from New England to a remote village in Alaska or one of the less populated Hawaiian islands. If you really want to go crazy, [you can even send mail by mule train to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with the same stamp](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/special-delivery-mail-by-mule/). I criticize the government about plenty of things but the USPS is what I would call an unambiguously great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Hendrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hendrix/32/7327_2.png) [@Hendrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hendrix)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/15 "2017-01-24T14:18:21Z")
You guys in the U.S.A.should consider yourself lucky as our first class mail in the U.K. is 65 pence. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/16 "2017-01-24T16:19:13Z")
> [@Hendrix](#): > > You guys in the U.S.A.should consider yourself lucky as our first class mail in the U.K. is 65 pence. Not only that, but the maximum distance your letter can travel within the UK is hundreds of miles, as opposed to thousands in the US. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/17 "2017-01-24T18:48:27Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I mail hundreds of packages a year, first class from Kansas City to the Chicago area, and almost always receive 2nd day service. I’ve always had much worse service from UPS, and if I am offered a choice, I’ll always choose USPS delivery of anything I’ve ordered. Amusingly, at my Kansas City apartment, most items being delivered ground by UPS or FedEx are ultimately delivered by USPS. I also send pretty much everything via USPS and have had no issues with them, except that I wish tracking was a bit better. Otherwise, I love them. ---
**Author:** ![Hendrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hendrix/32/7327_2.png) [@Hendrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hendrix)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/18 "2017-01-24T19:10:19Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Not only that, but the maximum distance your letter can travel within the UK is hundreds of miles, as opposed to thousands in the US. Exactly right,believe it or not many folk at Xmas time deliver their cards by car as it works out cheaper if the folk live locally. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/19 "2017-01-24T23:18:21Z")
> [@Hendrix](#): > > Exactly right,believe it or not many folk at Xmas time deliver their cards by car as it works out cheaper if the folk live locally. Here, it’s actually illegal to place anything in someone’s mailbox. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671/20 "2017-01-24T23:35:42Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Here, it’s actually illegal to place anything in someone’s mailbox. This seems… odd. Does the USPS actually OWN the mailbox that’s attached to your house? Otherwise, how would they have any jurisdiction whatsoever over who places what object in a box attached to your own house? Or is this a case of a rural delivery box that actually is owned by the post office and not attached to a house? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-class-u-s-postage-back-up-to-49-sunday/777671.md?page=2)