Price of US stamps goes up in 2 days!

[left-of-center2012]

The cost of stamps is going up 10% on January 27th.
The (Forever) First Class Mail letter (1 oz.) rate for postage purchased at the Post Office,
or online @ https://tinyurl.com/y7yv3rl7 , is increasing by five cents to $0.55 from $0.50.
.....................................................

USPS Announces Postage Rate Increase – Starts January 27, 2019

https://blog.stamps.com/2018/10/19/usps-announces-postage-rate-increase-starts-january-27-2019/

[dalton99a]

1. +1. Get your Forever stamps today

[CatWoman]

14. i bought a book about two weeks ago when i first heard of this increase

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Bought a bunch of books last week right after I heard about this. nt

[left-of-center2012]

3. I just ordered some online

https://tinyurl.com/y7yv3rl7

[MineralMan]

4. We still have Forever stamps from five years ago.

We use the USPS mail very rarely for envelope-sized mailings. We've converted all of our bill-paying to online methods or automatic withdrawals. We communicate with family and friends via emails, texts, and social media. We do send out about 80 Holiday cards every December, though, so we have a surplus of holiday-themed stamps from previous years. We've already missed several price hikes for first-class mail by using that surplus over the years.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

5. .50 cents to mail a damn letter. Unreal.

It's ok though...everyones wages go up too so things like this can be absorbed....

[left-of-center2012]

6. It's going up to 55 cents n/t

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

9. Heh heh....even worse. Just ridiculous.

[Scruffy1]

7. I still think its a bargain.

The USA has near the lowest rates of any country. I tcost over a bucvk a letter in many countries. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stamp-rates-world-wide.html

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. I agree

I wish they'd raise it to $1 and use the extra cash to provide other services through the post offices.

[roamer65]

8. I mail letters for 33 cents.

If one is willing to lick stamps, postage can be bought for as low as 60 cents on the dollar. The stamp collecting hobby has all but collapsed and 99 percent of post WW2 stamps are not even worth face value now.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

10. I bet a used stamp isn't worth .55 cents even as a collectable.

Hang on to your stuff though. You never know. About the time you sell them....shazam...big increase in value to collectors. Just like your clothes...as soon as you FINALLY give your bell bottoms (heh heh) to Salvation Army, bang...they come back in style.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. Still a heckuva deal.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

12. I remember stamps around the 10 cent range...and less.

so...not so great of a deal in my view. (IMHO....of course...ALWAYS IMHO ). Especially when the benefits and pay to Postal Workers don't seem to reflect how much a handful of letters cost to send.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

15. Ten cents in 1974 (when mailing a first-class letter cost ten cents) had the purchasing power of

$.51 in 2017.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

21. For real?

I don't remember buying stamps being a big deal back then. Even much before that really.
Somehow I don't think the purchasing power thing adds up anymore. The hourly rate should be like what? $22.00 an hour to keep up w inflation etc. The Fed Min Wage being around what? 12.00? That's about 1/2 the pruchasing power in my book....but ONLY my book bc...as always....it's MY humble opinion. From where I'm standing. 55 cent letters is crazy. But so is America 2019. Go figure.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

25. For real.

Why wouldn't the "purchasing power thing add up anymore"? There is definitely a conversation to be had when it comes to productivity, wages and the wage cuts we've all felt because wages rise slower than COL.

But I'm not sure what that has to do with the cost of mailing a letter. What would you say is a fair price for having someone pick up a letter at your house or business and making sure it gets where you want it to go in 1-3 days? FedEx doesn't charge $.55. The U.S. has one of the lowest costs when it comes to first-class postage.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

28. Right. Well. I just see it differently.

The min wage should be at least 15.00 an hour. The idea that you don't see how that adds up when the cost of food cars everything has gone up baffles me, but, that's MY problem isnt it? Good enough.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

30. As I say, there's definitely a discussion to be had about the minimum wage, as well as how and why

costs go up. I'll admit it, *I'm* baffled that postage is the one that you're fixated on. Do you do a lot of mailing?

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Some cool history below

https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/domestic-letter-rates-since-1863.htm

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

23. Very nice! Thanks. Interesting to see where we fit on the scale.

[secondwind]

13. We prefer to mail our bill payments. We are very supportive

of the US Postal service.

Same for going to the bank and doing business.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

24. Right there w you. Computer billing and banking....

not a fan at all. Not sure how thinking .55 cents an envelope translates to being Anti-Postal Service, but, that's not my position at all. As a matter of fact, I wish the Postal Carriers got paid more and their benefits were better. Retirement etc.

[2naSalit]

16. I will still support the USPS regardless of the rate hikes.

Another item for the Democratic agenda needs to be to release the USPS from that insane directive from the boehner era that is breaking the back of the USPS because the Rfuckers want to privatize the service. That's what that's all about folks.

Don't like the rate hikes, tell Congress to remove the directive to prepay ins and retirement funds years in advance of the normal pay plan for all other agencies. So that's what the problem is.

I will continue to pay the rates because we can't let the agency fail or be privatized. The more we balk at rate hikes, the more fuel to the privatization fire we will add.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

26. Cumbaya.

[crazycatlady]

31. As someone who ships a lot of items

I'm very thankful for the USPS. I have yet to have a customer complain to me about not receiving a package, they're very friendly, and they have been nothing but accommodating for me.

I love my PO.

[2naSalit]

34. Once upon a time

I sent a crucial letter to a government entity but forgot to include an important piece of paper in the envelop, I had a lot on my mind at the time, only to realize my error an hour after dropping it in the mailbox.

I lived in a city with a postal hub and I knew it was a long shot but I went to the main PO and spoke to the Postmaster and explained my plight, this piece of mail was related to my ability to qualify for my job that I had was in danger of losing without this transaction The Postmaster was awesome.

In a couple hours I received a phone call telling me they found my letter and pulled it out of the line so I could rush to the PO, put my piece of paper in the envelop, tape it up and send it with the batch it was in already so that no time was lost in the transit of my letter and they didn't even charge me for another stamp since the original hadn't been cancelled yet!

I thanked them profusely, sent letters of thanks and have been a willing advocate of the USPS ever since. That was back in the early 1980s, I still feel strongly about the USPS and will always fight for the service.

2na

[Sherman A1]

17. Thanks for the heads up

[California_Republic]

18. Still an amazing price for a very reliable service

[rownesheck]

20. What are stamps?

Oh, those sticky things you would put on an envelope to mail things? I remember those. I used to use them before i realized it's the 21st century and they are no longer necessary.

Sorry! I'm being a poop head. Please feel free to punch me.

[crazycatlady]

32. I rarely use stamps

However, I run an online store, so I ship items all the time.

[NurseJackie]

22. It's still a good deal. Postage for a 1-ounce letter in the UK is about 95 cents.

And... maybe it will cut down on the amount of junk mail I receive, since even the discounted "bulk rate" (junk mail rate) is going up as well.

I ought not complain about junk mail too much, though. I presume that if there was zero junk-mail, and if the USPS only delivered "letters and bills" then they'd need to raise the postage even higher to make up for the loss of income from junk mail.

[WhiteTara]

27. it's still a bargain. UPS or FEDEX

are both about $15 for a letter.

[crazycatlady]

29. Thanks for the reminder

I have to adjust the shipping settings on Etsy to reflect this.

[PSPS]

33. Cheap at twice the price. (And it's in 3 days, not 2.)

[melm00se]

35. Can't remember the last time I mailed something

via the USPS and I rarely receive any 1st class mail.

[keithbvadu2]

36. If you buy a year's worth of stamps on 25 or 26 Jan, you are making 10% on your money,,, way more th

If you buy a year's worth of stamps on 25 or 26 Jan, you are making 10% on your money,,, way more than you'll get at the bank.

That's a $1 savings per book of 20 stamps.
How many books will you use in a year?
Unless you use many stamps, you may spend more than that in gas and time if you have to make a special trip.

Sometimes it's cheaper to spend more money.

[Demovictory9]

38. Thanks.

[Totally Tunsie]

39. Still a bargain, and I do quite a bit of personal mailing

because I like to recognize birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays the old-fashioned way, supporting the USPS at the same time.

[TJKatd]

40. We do automatic draft on all our bills and mortgage...

And most of the bills come via email. And where we can, we pay ad hoc bills via websites. Credit card bills are good examples.

Very little of the mail we receive is useful. If I go to the mailbox, I go through the mail standingover a trash can to quickly dispose of the junk. Rates should rise on junk mail more than anything. It might help save landfill space.

Saturday delivery could certainly be eliminated, and cutting back to maybe three delivery days should be considered.

[DFW]

41. We've been paying more than that for years in Germany

And that's just for domestic German mail. Outside of Germany, it's 70 euro cents (about 80 cents US) for other EU countries, and 90 euro cents (about $1.05) for the USA. For us, that means 70 euro cents for Holland (an hour's drive away), Belgium (2 hours' drive away) and France (3 hours' drive away), but 55 euro cents for Bavaria (the southeastern part of Germany), which is 6 hours' drive away.