Cost of stamps to go up 2 cents (again...)

(CNN) -- Sending a letter will soon be a little more expensive, the U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday. The U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday a 2-cent increase on first-class stamps, effective May 11.

The Postal Service said the price increase was necessary because of rising production costs. Under law, the price of stamps is not allowed to rise faster than the U.S. consumer price index, which measures inflation.

Dino juice @ 10 bucks? Sounds good!!
Wages haven’t kept up though. (Back in “the day” prices were arbitrary of course, but something might cost say, $10.50 , but that .50c meant something to a working man, subsidiary coinage wasn’t so much detritus as it might be today.

I think that's low, based on my experience. A candy bar in 1960 was 5¢ to 10¢ cents. Now it's 50 cents to a buck, excepting sales. A coke was 5¢ to 15¢, now it's 50¢ to $1.50. Movies were 50¢ for an adult. Now they're $5 for a matinee, more later in the evening.

Better production has forced some items down. Food is proportionally a lot less expensive, except for fast food, etc. where you're paying for convenience, and, of course, there's a lot more variety, so you have a lot more choices from low end to high end.

Cars have remained stable in price considering inflation, and I think are a better value today. In 1965, if somebody got 100,000 miles out of a car, they were great at maintenance and very careful drivers. Today, if you change the oil and don't wreck it, most cars will turn 100,000 with no problems. In 1966, the Corvette, which was a pretty fancy car, didn't have A/C standard, AM radio and roll up windows. About half of all cars did not have an A/C. Mileage was a LOT less.

Ten years ago I took out a large post office box when I moved my office. I no longer get mail. No broker statement, few checks, almost no letters, no magazines or trade pubs.

Checks are electronically deposited and not mailed. Statements are e mailed or on line. Letters come from politicians, but all work correspondence is via e mail.

Although my business is smaller, the mail is disproportionately less. When scaled up to a really large company, emailing of checks could be saving as much as it costs me to run my business.

Like newspapers, the USPO is in a heap of trouble

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.