Comments on: Forever Stamps and Another Postage Rate Hike

By: Elizabeth T. Wise

Elizabeth T. Wise — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:54:28 +0000

I’m so sorry I bought 250 Xmas cards after Xmas in Jan. ‘08. I should have mailed them right then with a “do open – it’s for next Xmas – farewell to future cards, Xmas cards should get a SPECIAL RATE. Oh, I forgot – Religion and state would forbid hat. Cheers,world.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:01:53 +0000

the postage changes so often i had to come on line before ordering more stamps because the amount was not on the previous stamps.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 19:05:31 +0000

I think the “forever” stamp is hype to create an immediate cash flow. The PO could just create the policy of accepting old first class stamps while requiring new purchases at the current rate. This is basically what they are doing. The advantage of the “forever” stamp is that it will create a buying frenzy now.

By: Margo

Margo — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:22:00 +0000

I wonder if the PO’s benefit to the ”forever” stamp is the cost savings, of not having to deal with people who just need a couple of the 2 cent stamps. Or, if the cost of printing those things combined with the cost of selling them, makes the 2 cent stamps unprofitable…so perhaps it’s more worth their while to do the “forever” thing.

By: Free Money Finance

Free Money Finance — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:21:55 +0000

Star Money Articles for the Week of March 19

Here are interesting posts and news this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork members and beyond: Consumerism Commentary is focusing on retirement. AllFinancialMatters got his Peter Pan rebate check. MightyBargainHunter has an allowance. Five Cent Nickel dod…

By: zen

zen — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 17:31:09 +0000

None for me, thanks. I do all my bills through my credit union/bank and all my mail electronically. I think I’ve used a stamp maybe three times in the past two years.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:59:39 +0000

Jim, you also neglected to mention the one certifiably positive part of this proposal. The rate for each additional ounce you ship has been reduced from $.24 to $.17. So while sending envelopes will be more expensive, sending packages will be cheaper.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:50:05 +0000

I think what’s being forgotten here is inflation. The USPS will mostly like make money on the forever stamp idea provided their rate increases are slower than inflation. Dustin – for your specific example, if you factor in 4% inflation per year then a $.41 stamp now is actually worth $.50 in five years. If the rate the USPS is charging five years from now happens to be less than $.50 (which is very likely given historical data) then people who bought forever stamps will have actually OVERPAID for them.

Stepping back in time, a $.37 stamp five years ago (the going rate at the time) should cost around $.45 now (again assuming 4% inflation). No wonder the USPS lost money over the last five years – inflation kicked their butt and they’re undercharging consumers!

By: Dustin

Dustin — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:28:12 +0000

I am curious why the PO is doing this. Ok, I understand it will let people lock in a rate per se, but where is the incentive for them now. In five years when the price is $.50 per stamp and everybody is still paying $.41, they will be hurting. Do people have to pay a fee to get these forever stamps or something? How is this not going to screw them over later especially with the increasing costs and lower parcel count?

By: KMC

KMC — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:41:37 +0000

I swear just last week as I was buying stamps (online) I told a coworker, “It’s been a while since they raised the rate. I’ll bet as soon as I buy these, it’ll change.” Like Matt, I’ll buy a crapload of forever stamps when they come out. I don’t know the details – will the forevers only offered for a little while?

By: FMF

FMF — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:31:39 +0000

Bike hater.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:56:50 +0000

It figures that I just bought a book of 39-cent stamps the other day. I think I even have a couple of 34-cent stamps sitting around somewhere.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:59:35 +0000

Not all of your online billpays are purely electronic, unless you’re doing them directly with the company.

For instance, I use Bank of America billpay, and only about 75% of my bills are purely electronic. Even if I don’t get an e-bill from them, I can tell if they’re set up for EFT based on the date BoA calculates for the payment to reach them. If it’s 1 day, then they’re EFT. Any longer and they’re probably not.

So, I still have to be worried about being in that small percentage of lost mail, but BoA guarantee’s their payments (last I remember).

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:07:53 +0000

I’ll probably buy a book of the forever stamps…and it may well last me through the next five or six rate increases, since I almost never use the Post Office. (Honestly, sending snail mail is so rare a thing for me that I couldn’t tell you where the stamps are in my house. We haven’t used any since we moved in last August, and indeed I might have left them behind in my apartment…where I hadn’t used any in almost a year before that.)

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:07:08 +0000

I haven’t even used up all my 37s, and I have a roll of 39s waiting to be used… Oh well.