# Need help with "forever" stamp calculations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2017, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807 "2017-01-10T06:49:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/21 "2017-01-11T13:28:05Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > There is now an international Forever Stamp, called the “Global Forever® stamp.” [It is round and features a picture of the Moon.](https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_589204) That’s \*tres \*cool. I’ve always been disappointed that USPS was never into unusual shapes for stamps. No triangles, etc. Or at least very, very few; I’m not a philatelist. I showed the link to my wife who said “I wonder if I can use that to mail something to the Moon?” I said “Probably not. Their motto mentions ‘neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night…’ Doesn’t say anything about hard vacuums or radiation.” We both got a chuckle out of it. I wonder where something _would_ end up if you did address it to the Moon? 🙂 ---
**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 11, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/22 "2017-01-11T15:59:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I wonder where something _would_ end up if you did address it to the Moon? 🙂 Maybe Alice Kramden would get it. ---
**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 11, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/23 "2017-01-11T18:43:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That’s \*tres \*cool. I’ve always been disappointed that USPS was never into unusual shapes for stamps. No triangles, etc. Or at least very, very few; I’m not a philatelist. I bought several sheets of [these pentagonal stamps](http://images.collectors.com/articles/spacestamp5_large.jpg) back in 2000. Since each stamp has a denomination of $1, I don’t get to use them very often. The first triangular stamps issued by the U.S. were in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/24 "2017-01-11T19:38:00Z")
Wow. I had no idea. I had a stamp collector starter kit as a kid in the 1960s. Was mildly interesting but no more than that. Haven’t touched the hobby since. We mail several 9x12 flats per month. Which flats now cost $0.98 for the first ounce plus 22 cents per additional oz. That’s not enough volume to bother with a postage meter or a postage printer. But as a result we use plenty of $1 stamps. Time to go see what other fun stuff USPS is currently selling. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/25 "2017-01-11T19:51:50Z")
To reiterate - the post office does not rely on people buying stamps at X and then reducing the rate to X-2 to make money. This was a fluke that hadn’t happened in over 100 years: a temporary emergency increase was granted which subsequently expired, so the rate went back down. The rate is supposed to go back up (a natural inflationary increase) this month. So your old 49c priced forevers will be back to the norm. The solution would have been to buy some current forevers at 47c and sit on the ones that cost 49c. The post office is often maligned for waste etc, but the truth is they receive ZERO tax funding, they completely self finance. The news makes hay of them losing money but that was caused by the geniuses in Congress who decided that of all the federal agencies, the USPS had to pre-finance its healthcare premiums for 5 years. Removing that shackle from them, the USPS would generate a nice profit. Notice Congress gets their healthcare taken care of via taxes. NOTE: I am NOT a Federal employee. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/26 "2017-01-12T12:39:47Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > That is because the current rate for a one-ounce domestic First Class letter is 47 cents, not 49 cents. The fact that you may have paid 49 cents for the stamps a couple of years ago is of no concern. That is exactly what **Musicat** said. That’s what I said also (Or thought I did). Yeah, I paid 49c and get 47c in value. I was just showing that sometimes, it does go down in value. I think we are in complete agreement here. 🙂 ETA: Musicat’s quote of 49c threw me off track. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/27 "2017-01-12T13:21:23Z")
> [@campp](#): > > That’s what I said also (Or thought I did). Yeah, I paid 49c and get 47c in value. I was just showing that sometimes, it does go down in value. I think we are in complete agreement here. 🙂 > > ETA: Musicat’s quote of 49c threw me off track. The key point is that going down in value has happened 2x in 100 years (1919, and 2016)- that’s hardly “sometimes”, that’s “extremely rare”, and should not be a realistic concern. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/28 "2017-01-12T16:41:52Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > There is now an international Forever Stamp, called the “Global Forever® stamp.” [It is round and features a picture of the Moon.](https://store.usps.com/store/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp?productId=S_589204) Note that the [earlier version of the Global Forever stamp](https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2013/pr13_011.htm) (which I think was the first such denominated stamp introduced) featured a picture of the Earth instead. That one was also round. ---
**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:** [July 5, 2017, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807/30 "2017-07-05T07:06:13Z")
Reported. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-forever-stamp-calculations/776807.md?page=1)