No, because the PHB says postage meters are too expensive! 
We’ve had ‘forever’ stamps here for first and second class letter post for ages here in the UK. It just works. Sure, you could stockpile them just before an announced rate increase, but then the Post Office has your money - So, OK, they’ve lost a penny on some notional future transaction, - but you’ve paid significantly in advance for a service you don’t require right now (and indeed may not ever redeem, if the stamps are lost or destroyed) - you’ve been extended the opposite of credit I’m sure they’re crying all the way to the bank.
I thought the opposite of credit was blame.
No, the opposite of credit is cash. Just like the opposite of fish is chips.
According to the back of a sheet of “permanent” stamps I picked up recently “Use it for standard letters that weigh up to 30 grams mailed to any Canadian address or combine it with other stamps to make up the correct postage for oversized letters, parcels or international mail”.
(just checked the Canada Post web page you cited - it says the same thing).
Why would the Post Office want to print a gazillion 2-cent stamps so that people can make up the difference? If they mis-estimate the demand, they are left with a bunch of useless stamps. On the other hand, by making a stamp that is usable at the new denomination, they can sell out what they print, and are left with no surplus. :rolleyes:
As for the new “forever” stamp, I think in essence they are proposing that the basic stamp for first class postage, you know, the one with the flag, will from now on be sold without a denomination, and you’ll simply use them up before buying the next batch. I understand they intend to put limits on the amount you can buy in one transaction, and, of course, they will still be issuing novelty stamps with denominations on them. Also, and this is being totally ignored by the media coverage on this issue, the “forever” stamp will make it much easier to have regular (read: yearly) postage increases, since they won’t have to print new stamps now. <sigh>
Interesting. Guess the Canada Post employee who explained it to me hadn’t studied enough. Thanks for the info.
Businesses who really send out a lot of mail wouldn’t bother. Your local model railroad club will use stamps for its newsletter on a run of 200, the candidate for Mayor might use a postage meter/franking machine for a run of 10 000, but American Express will just back up a semi to the loading dock of a sorting facility in a big city, with a “Here, sort these!”, handing over about ten or fifteen tons of credit card statements. The company has an account with the post office, and the letters are simply marked “POSTAGE PAID”. Even if they are blank (“cleanskins”), they will be imprinted with “PAID LOS ANGELES 02/02/07 4P” or something as they go through the sorting machine at 30 000 articles per hour. They are going to go through this machine regardless, so it’s cheaper to let the post office mark them for you.
This hasn’t been true for a while; see postal regulation 152.2d here .
I 've sent many many letters to Europe with non-denominated stamps, not problem. You can even use the Breast-Cancer Research semi-postal if you want.
Sounds to me like they need cash now and are willing to sacrifice future profits for it.
This hasn’t been true for over a decade. Along with the letter stamps, the PO also prints overage stamps which have a value of whatever the increase is. The last time, for example, they were worth two cents and had a picture of a Navajo necklace on them.
I’m not sure what your point is. Cash now in exchange for future profits is usually a good business move unless the profit is significant. I don’t think that there will be this big rush to buy a bunch before the increase anyway.
With the Forever stamp, they don’t have to trash old inventory when the rates increase. They don’t have to deal with the rush of traffic when the rate increases just to sell cheap overage stamps. The don’t have to screw around with postage due returns after the rate increases. It’s a great idea.
[tinfoil hat] It’s one way to lessen the emotional impact of future postal rate increases.
As it is now, any time there is a postal increase, you see a new stamp design. You have someting visual indicating the rising cost of government.
When you go to the post office after such a rate increase and get a book of stamps that cost more than the last one, you are told “$8.60, please.” You might pay up and leave before you realise you just paid 43 cents per stamp. (2 cents more than last time.) You then think “When did the rates go up? Bah.” But you still have the same looking stamp, lessening the impact.
Truly, Orwellian in it’s brilliance.[/tinfoil hat]
If you think investing in postal delivery futures is a good idea, in some twisted scam to beat the postal service, consider that you have chosen an instrument that cannot be redeemed except by use with the original issuing for services. You can’t get a refund on stamps.
So, they get the the cash, now. You get the service, whenever. Even if you wait for a 100 percent increase over today’s prices, they effectively get an interest free loan for however long that is. During rapid inflation times, that’s likely to be a good deal. And they still get a pass on the printing costs for new denomination.
Tris
Like Antigen, I’ve apparently been misinformed by postal employees.
Wow! Man, what are the chances of that happening, huh?
Tris
I’m curious… how is ‘message’ defined in that sense, and in what way do literature and advertising not qualify as messages?
You’ve also probably heard the joke: “41 cents to send a letter from LA to NY? What a bargain - that’s just a penny a day!” 
Rule requiring written or typewritter material to be sent First Class from the link:
Bulk mailings of advertising, charitable appeals and the like must come under one of the exceptions above. I Googled around but couldn’t find any specifics. Most rulemakers provide for exceptions to cover their ass in case they forget some exceptional situation, which they always do. It also permits accomodating changed circumstances without rewriting the rulebook.
But stamps can always be used as stampes, so the USPS can just put the leftover bazillion out of the gazillion they printed back in the warehouse for the next time.