Stamp Price Increase

[cardude2004]

The price of stamps in the US has risen 2 cents to 39 cents. I know that it was done last weekend (Sunday Jan 8, 2005), but I just wanted all of you to remember when you went to send that letter to your penpal!

The post office would break even without the money, but Congress made them put their excess money last year into a new fund, and now each successive year the USPS must deposit $3 billion into the fund, so they need to raise the postage costs to cover that $3 billion.

The last hike in postage rates was 4 years ago.

A new hike in the price will be revealed soon, unless congress is able to stop the fund!

I don't have an article, I have just heard about this even and thought I would remind everybody!

 

[Kylehnat]

I buy one book of stamps every couple of years or so. Online bill-pay is my way of sticking it to that greedy government arm, the USPS

 

[Solid Fro]

How is the USPS greedy? 39 cents for a stamp is not greedy, especially with what the USPS has to do to deliver your letter.

If you want to stick it to "The Man", there are better ways to do it.

 

[Pupik]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800853_pf.html

It is not all doom and gloom for the Postal Service, though. It ended 2005 $1.3 billion in the black, marking the third consecutive year that it was able to make money. Officials also announced last month that the Postal Service -- once $11 billion in the red -- was without debt for the first time since the agency's last major reorganization, in the 1970s.

A two-cent increase, and people go nuts. Adjusting for real-dollar inflation, it's not much of a change. Besides, you have a costlier alternative, if you wish...or use e-mail or online bill paying.

Apparently, postal rate increases have exceeded inflationary rate increases in the past 20 years, but...that's based on the CPI, which still measures items like haircuts, produce, and bus fares which rarely change in price. The Consumer Price Index doesn't use items like cars, homes, services, gas (probably since many of these items weren't bought in the same demand as they were 50-100 years ago). Yet it's one of the biggest economic indicators of inflation.

Also, if the USPS wanted to be greedy, they would have made the increase just after Thanksgiving!

 

[niky]

I actually feel bad for the Postal Service. What the hell is the fund for?

 

[Swift]

I do almost everything online, so I have no need for stamps. This is probably why there is a price increase. If everyone was still using snail mail, I doubt they would have to continually raise the price of stamps.

 

[Danoff]

The government has no business delivering mail and should stop monopolizing the industry (and it is a government regulated monopoly). There are plenty of companies that would love to deliver mail for us... I see no reason why it is necessary for the government to ensure mail delivery - especially since the advent of email.

I mean comeon! Do I really need the government to gaurantee me that they'll get me my coupon spam every week without fail? My magazine subscriptions? My credit card bills? If my credit card bills are late I just call them and send a check anyway. I use the mail for NOTHING critical. There is no reason the government has to take a loss every year delivering it.

 

[FoolKiller]

I bought a book of stamps teh last time they raised prices and didn't actually use more than two of them until I got married. Then I used it all on thank you notes, but that was it. The only other thing I use the mail for is Netflix, Gamefly, and any packages I order online.

I wouldn't have known about the stamp ioncrease if the news hadn't been talking about it. Currently I have no stamps at all.

 

[cardude2004]

The government has no business delivering mail and should stop monopolizing the industry (and it is a government regulated monopoly). There are plenty of companies that would love to deliver mail for us... I see no reason why it is necessary for the government to ensure mail delivery - especially since the advent of email.

I mean come on! Do I really need the government to gaurantee me that they'll get me my coupon spam every week without fail? My magazine subscriptions? My credit card bills? If my credit card bills are late I just call them and send a check anyway. I use the mail for NOTHING critical. There is no reason the government has to take a loss every year delivering it.

The government doesn't directly deliver the mail. The post office is not actually a government branch. Yes, it is semi-connected to the government, but it is more private than connected.

 

[Danoff]

The government doesn't directly deliver the mail. The post office is not actually a government branch. Yes, it is semi-connected to the government, but it is more private than connected.

ie: government regulated monopoly. I'd call it more government than private anyway.

 

[niky]

Somehow I don't relish the idea of paying FedEx prices every time I have to have a letter delivered... oops... we do that already.

The Post Office was a valid and very meaningful service when originally conceived. Now, though, with the advent of Express Delivery services and the internet, it's kind of an anachronism. They have to maintain artificially low prices and a huge fleet of postal delivery people to make sure as many people as possible can use the system. It's a losing proposition.

 

[Danoff]

Somehow I don't relish the idea of paying FedEx prices every time I have to have a letter delivered... oops... we do that already.

The Post Office was a valid and very meaningful service when originally conceived. Now, though, with the advent of Express Delivery services and the internet, it's kind of an anachronism. They have to maintain artificially low prices and a huge fleet of postal delivery people to make sure as many people as possible can use the system. It's a losing proposition.

The post office NEVER had to muscle competition out of business. Even if it was a valid service when originally conceived it didn't have to be set up in such a way as to make compeition impossible.

Still, to this day, anyone who tries to deliver regular mail for pay will be federally prosecuted.

 

[a6m5]

I rarely send mails anymore. Like most of you guys, bills are either deducted from my checking account or done online. I write a check for my apartment rent, but I drop it off at the rental office myself.

I can't really complain about mail services. It's easy to send, receive(I've had my P.O. Box forever) and it's really cheap too. I'm not a big fan of price hike either, but it's nowhere near the rise in prices of say gas or Big Mac Meal.

 

[FoolKiller]

The government doesn't directly deliver the mail. The post office is not actually a government branch. Yes, it is semi-connected to the government, but it is more private than connected.

So why are they considered federal employees with federal paychecks from the federal government and federal employee benefits?

Oh, and if you attack a postal worker while on the job you are charged with assaulting a federal employee. Any crime committed through or with mail, including opening someone elses mail without permission, is a federal offense.

You put federal all over something like that and it reaks of government. I am trying to find the part where it isn't a government agency. In all honesty it doesn't run efficiently enough to even try to pretend to be private.

 

[OGLE B]

Try to get FedEx or UPS to deliver anything for $.39 ! Last time I checked it was over $7.00 minimum charge. I email most everything, but mail is necessary, and no one "company" would be willing to deliver to any and every address, (most)every day, for $.39 . It would be still be a bargan at $1.00, and we would probably get allot less junk mail too.

 

[Danoff]

Try to get FedEx or UPS to deliver anything for $.39 ! Last time I checked it was over $7.00 minimum charge. I email most everything, but mail is necessary, and no one "company" would be willing to deliver to any and every address, (most)every day, for $.39 . It would be still be a bargan at $1.00, and we would probably get allot less junk mail too.

You'll never know until you give them a shot. Some companies have tried to deliver mail to any and every address and have been prosecuted for criminal activity. Right now they don't have a choice. Maybe they couldn't do it for 39 cents, but they won't have taxes to subsidize their expenses either. It costs us more than 39 cents / letter if you factor in the losses the post office charges our tax dollars for.

 

[cardude2004]

We must be behind the times. We don't use email for anything, and payments for stuff aren't automatically deducted from a bank account. We get a bill in the mail, and mail in the payment.

 

[Tedehur]

A stamp in France cost 0.53 € = $ 0.64
I'm 34 and I can't remember the time when a stamp cost the equivalent of $ 0.39
Perhaps that's the reason why I never post letters.