US Postage

[MSmith]

Just a friendly reminder - the price of a US first class stamp went up to 39 cents yesterday.

I had to wait 20 minutes at my local post office for 104 2c stamps (covering 8 people at my office). I wonder what the noontime line will be like?

 

[fgcason]

Do huh what? What are you talking about?

Hmmm... Let me see if the unedmukated monkey can figure this one out on his own now that he has a clue there might be a problem;
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2006/39/
ACK! Oh, that rate increase! I forgot about the top secret rate increase that no one mentioned. I didn't see that one coming at all.

Considering how many cubic miles of junkmail that I get every year without fail, it looks like they could drop a single note in the box saying the rates are going up so I don't get mail (specifically credit card bills with short turn around times) returned to me... Like the one I was about to go toss in the drop box about 10 minutes from now.

Seriously, THANK YOU for posting this. Unlike the USPS or anyone else in existence, you just saved me a ton of headaches even though I now have to go 2 cent stamp hunting.


I remember when I was in college and had to quit writing letters because the stamps were too offensively expensive at 19 cents a pop.

 

[Skip Miller]

Just a friendly reminder - the price of a US first class stamp went up to 39 cents yesterday.

I had to wait 20 minutes at my local post office for 104 2c stamps (covering 8 people at my office). I wonder what the noontime line will be like?

Also a friendly reminder: I ordered my $.02 stamps online at www.usps.gov. They ship them priority mail and so they arrive quickly. You do have to pay a shipping and handling charge, which I did gladly to avoid standing on line at the PO. Oh, the POs also have vending machines here. The $.02 come in books of 20 by mail or in the vending machine.

-Skip

 

[gismo]

Just a friendly reminder - the price of a US first class stamp went up to 39 cents yesterday.

I had to wait 20 minutes at my local post office for 104 2c stamps (covering 8 people at my office). I wonder what the noontime line will be like?

Every time this happens I wonder why stamps already purchased can't be used for their original intended use. You've already paid for the stamp, the postmaster general has your money, why does it devaluate when they raise the rates? It seems to me that they ought to sell stamps (for whatever price they want) that entitle the owner to send their mail whenever they get around to it. If you buy fuel at today's price, you can use it for the same trip after the price goes up, why not stamps?

 

[MSmith]

Because stamps are money.

OK, you can't turn them in for a refund. But they are always worth what you paid. Stamps are just a way to avoid taping a quarter, a dime, and 4 pennies to the envelope. You can still use a 1950 1 cent stamp for 1 cent worth of postage (though you could probably get more from a collector). You can even use the "A" stamps from years ago for whatever the new postage rate was back then.

The stamp that you bought last week is still worth 37 cents. You just have to add 2 cents.

It's the same thing with gift certificates. If somebody gave you a gift certificate for $99.99 intending you to buy that DVD player that was selling for $99.99 when he bought it, do you expect that the store won't raise the price to $119.99 now?

 

[Richard]

Every time this happens I wonder why stamps already purchased can't be used for their original intended use. You've already paid for the stamp, the postmaster general has your money, why does it devaluate when they raise the rates? It seems to me that they ought to sell stamps (for whatever price they want) that entitle the owner to send their mail whenever they get around to it. If you buy fuel at today's price, you can use it for the same trip after the price goes up, why not stamps?

Lance, you lost me. I've always been able to take yesterday's stamp + stamp equal in value to price hike (.02). Heck, I have lots of .02 stamps lying around from the last price increase so I plan on using those, just like always before. I've never heard someone not being able to use previously bought stamps.

 

[jesse]

Something tells me my credit card payment isn't going to make it.

..It's pretty stupid that they don't...you know... TELL YOU.

 

[MSmith]

My experience has always been that if a letter was in the system (and that includes in a mail box) on the Sunday that they change the rates, it'll get delivered regardless of the date it's postmarked.

I wouldn't sweat the credit card payment unless you mailed it today. Even then it might be OK.

 

[fgcason]

..It's pretty stupid that they don't...you know... TELL YOU.

Jesse,
I was inside the post office two weeks ago (just before xmas) buying stamps because I was out. 45 minutes standing in line gave me enough time to read every sign and piece of paper in the place - twice. Not a sign, nor the person behind the counter, nor anything else I could see mentioned the rate increase. I had NO reason to believe the rates were going to go up.
It's just like the super secret 25mph speed limit for all residential areas unless otherwise posted. For 75+ years it's been 30mph.

They really need to start PUTTING BIG HUGE SIGNS UP! Or at least one little teeny one somewhere that it can actually be found.

Just another reason to live in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere...but they'll pass a secret law against that too most likely...

 

[silver-eagle]

Just think - you can now legitimately give the government your $.02 worth. And they really want it!

 

[wsuffa]

My experience trying to get $0.02 stamps left me PO'd.

Long lines, and none of the dispensing machines were working at all (much less stocked with stamps).

It is quite apparent as to WHY the PO needs the extra money. To feed sloth and inefficiency.

 

[Eamon]

My "Local" office here in Wilmington, NC had a big sign up...............

WE HAVE NO 2cent STAMPS


What a RIP-OFF. Can you rip a 5 cent stamp in 1/2????

 

[fgcason]

What a RIP-OFF. Can you rip a 5 cent stamp in 1/2????

No. Well, actually you can. I tried that once but it worked just like a boomerang.

You can however use nothing but 1 cent stamps on envelopes as long as you put the correct number of stamps on the thing assuming there is enough surface area for the stamps to not overlap. (You get less grief if they're all on the front of the envelope) BTDT. It's kind of like paying for an airplane with pennies, it's valid currency by their own rules so go for it... For a while I was known at the local post office in college as "The Annoying Stamper." (I still have some of those 1 cent stamps left over in a box somewhere)

The easy solution that they probably want you to do is to stick two 37 cent stamps on it but that takes all the fun out of it.

 

[gismo]

Because stamps are money.

OK, you can't turn them in for a refund.

So they're not really money, they are only useful to mail things.

It's the same thing with gift certificates. If somebody gave you a gift certificate for $99.99 intending you to buy that DVD player that was selling for $99.99 when he bought it, do you expect that the store won't raise the price to $119.99 now?

But stamps aren't like gift certificates. Can you walk into a superstore and pay for a DVD player with stamps? Can you use stamps to buy a meal at a local resturant?

Stamps are more like a bus or airline ticket. If you buy a ticket today for a flight in the future, do you need to spend more if the airline raises the price for that flight before you take the trip?

 

[Jeff Oslick]

I want to know why the Post Office vending machines only had $0.03 stamps at my PO this morning, no $0.02.... freakin' scam....