Posted on 02/11/2008 2:37:47 PM PST by nuconvert
Stamps to Cost a Penny More
February 11, 2008
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Writer
Mailing a Letter Will Cost a Penny More Starting in May
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mailing a letter will soon cost a penny more. The cost of a first-class stamp will rise to 42 cents starting May 12, the U.S. Postal Service said Monday.
The price of the Forever stamp will go up at the same time, meaning those stamps can still be purchased for 41 cents but will remain good for first-class postage after the rate increase takes effect.
The post office has sold 5 billion Forever stamps since they were introduced last April and plans to have an additional 5 billion in stock to meet the expected demand before the May price change, the agency said.
The charge for other services, such as advertising mail, periodicals, packages special services will also change. Changes in the price for Priority Mail and Express Mail will be announced later, the agency said.
Postage rates last went up in May, 2007, with a first-class stamp jumping 2 cents to the current 41-cent rate.
In the past raising postage rates was a long, complex process involving hearings before the independent Postal Regulatory Commission, a process that could take nearly a year.
However, under the new law regulating the post office that took effect in late 2006, the agency is allowed to increase rates with 45-days notice as long as changes are within the rate of inflation for the previous 12 months. The Postal Regulatory Commission calculated that rate at 2.9 percent through January, limiting the first-class rate to an increase of just over a penny.
Under the new law, postal prices will be adjusted annually each May, the Postal Service said. Officials said they plan to give 90 days notice of future changes, twice what is required by law.
While the charge for the first ounce of a first-class letter rises to 42 cents, the price of each added ounce will remain 17 cents, so a two-ounce letter will go up a penny to 59 cents.
The cost to mail a post card will also go up a penny, to 27 cents
Other increases set for May 12:
-- Large envelope, 2 ounces, $1, up 3 cents.
-- Money Orders up to $500, $1.05, unchanged.
-- Certified mail, $2.70, up 5 cents.
-- First-class international letter to Canada or Mexico, 72 cents, up 3 cents.
-- First-class international letter to other countries, 94 cents, up 4 cents.
Look at postal rates in other countries and ours don’t look so bad. I thik it’s 64 cents for a stamp in Canada.
As predicted when the changes went into effect, we have yearly increases in postage rates to look forward to. As nothing ensures the increase in cost for a government or quasi government agency as much as inflation adjusted budgets.
This is just a ploy to get frugal people to run to their local PO to buy the forever stamps before the increase.
I wish they would just raise the damn price 10 cents and promise not to change it for 10 years. These increases are ridiculous.
Postal Employee: “May I help you?”
Kramer: “Yeah, I’d like to cancel my mail.”
Postal Employee: “Certainly. How long would you like us to hold it?”
Kramer: “Oh, no, no. I don’t think you get me. I want out, permanently.”
Newman: “I’ll handle this, Violet. Why don’t you take your three hour break? Oh, calm down, everyone. No one’s cancelling any mail.”
Kramer: “Oh, yes, I am.”
Newman: “What about your bills?”
Kramer: “The bank can pay ‘em.”
Newman: “The bank. What about your cards and letters?”
Kramer: “E-mail, telephones, fax machines. Fedex, telex, telegrams,holograms.”
Newman: “All right, it’s true! Of course nobody needs mail. What do you think, you’re so clever for figuring that out? But you don’t know the half of what goes on here. So just walk away, Kramer. I beg of you.”
Supervisor: “Is everything all right here, Postal Employee Newman?”
Newman: “Yes, sir, I believe everything is all squared away. Isn’t it, Mr. Kramer?”
Kramer: “Oh, yeah. As long as I stop getting mail!”
I had a mail a bill for my mother around Christmas and I couldn’t remember the cost of postage. I pay all of my bills online now.
You think government run postal service is bad ... wait for government run health care. Budget over runs, inflation, high employee salaries ... we’re gonna need a big bureaucracy to keep track of the health care tax and the expenditures.
Once stamps reach $1.00 a piece I’m going to just glue a dollar bill to the envelope. :)
I would rather they just raise the cost by $0.10 and not change it for five years.
Sounds like the USPS has about outlived their usefulness to individuals. The vast majority of pieces they carry are advertisements and other “boxholder” junk. They are pricing themselves right out of the market. They raise the first class rates, so people stop sending first class mail. then they charge them an arm and a leg for the privilege of having their mailboxes stuffed to overflowing with crap that is going straight into the woodstove or the burn barrel. And now, they are raising those rates again, after only a year? Does that mean more junk mail, for more money?
Post office, DMV, public schools, Hillcare.
Of course email is huge but, now that we use our bank’s free online bill-pay, we almost never write a check and, thus, we need even fewer stamps.
As people send less first-class mail, the price will have to rise to keep the mail trucks gassed up and making their rounds.
A coil of 100 Forever Stamps might last us a couple years.
“The price of the Forever stamp will go up at the same time”
...you mean...go up...forever...
42 cents? Wow. I haven’t bought a stamp since they were 29 cents.
It appears that I will stand as the lone supporter of the USPS in this thread.
Note to self: Buy one billion Forever stamps at 41 cents now and hold em for 10 years to sell at a profit.
Time to buy a life time supply of FOREVER stamps.
My office buys boxes of pre-paid envelopes. Just got rid of our last 39 cent envelopes and now it looks like under the new rules they plan to raise rates 1 cent each and every year. Doubt we will be buying pre-paid envelopes anymore.
I absolutely loathe the USPS. This is a letter I wrote them back in August. I never did get a response. And I sent it certified too!
August 22, 2007
Post Master General Jack Potter
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza S.W.
Washington DC 20206
RE: CV33372038
Dear Sir,
During the last week, my company and I have had more issues and problems with the Postal Service than we are used too, and I wanted to write to you and see if I could tell you what certain policies are doing in the “real world”.
The problem started when our accountant tried to mail end of year paperwork to our CPA. The envelope was over 13 ounces, and we were informed that our postman could not take it, that we had to drop it off in person.
Well, my accountant went to the post office and dropped the pre-stamped envelope in the slot. As you can imagine, it came back to the office. He didn’t physically hand the envelope to a clerk, you see.
Then, the next morning, I took the envelope to my local station and stood in line for 15 minutes because there was no clerk at the counter, even though we could hear them in the back. I then handed the envelope over to the clerk. I watched as she hand cancelled all my stamps, and then she said it was ok.
Much to my surprise, on Monday, when I arrived at work, there was the envelope again on my desk, this time with a neon green sticker on it stating that the hand delivered envelope needed to be hand delivered. You see my problem, don’t you?
By the way, in case you were not aware of it, the neon green sticker states that the weight limit is 16 ounces and not 13. I have enclosed it for your review.
I called the main ASK USPS phone number to get the number of the station I wanted to call so that I could question them. I called them, and it wasn’t until the 5th attempt at calling them, that someone bothered to answer the phone. I found it rather amusing that her perky “the customer always comes first” line was used in answering the phone.
I explained to her what had happened with the envelope, and she said that she would get one of the “window” people to come talk with me. She then put me on hold…..for 45 minutes. Not once was the phone picked up by anyone at that station again. I called from my cell phone, to see if I could get some to answer the phone at the station. The line was busy, because I was on hold for 45 minutes.
I then called the main ASK USPS line again and while still on hold, filed the formal complaint. The reference number is above. At that point, I realized that “the customer does not always come first” and that the likelihood of anyone at the station actually picking up the phone and being of some kind of assistance to me was pretty minimal.
I hung up, split my envelope and re-mailed it. I will be interested to see if they come back this time.
It was explained to me, today, by my regular mail carrier that if we had metered mail, he could pick everything up, and that it was only stamped mail that got this rather close scrutiny.
Sir, we are a small company, and renting mail machine really isn’t in our best interests, but in an endeavor to not have to deal with any USPS station people in person, we are probably going to go ahead and rent one.
So in conclusion, I have several things I would like to address to you.
1. There was no notification to customers about the 13 ounces rule. Our carrier was kind enough to warn us, as he is familiar with our mailing habits.
2. The clerks at the station were apparently not able to tell a hand cancelled postage from something that had just been dropped in a bin out front.
3. A customer was left on the phone for 45 minutes while your clerks did something else. I have work to do as well, and cannot remain on hold indefinitely.
4. Since finding that metered mail does not get the scrutiny that stamped mail gets, are you actually telling people that you don’t think a terrorist would get a meter machine?
5. “The customer always comes first” line, is not good customer service since it is very apparent that we don’t. Because if a person has gone through the bother of getting a station phone number, then I can assure you that they are already not happy with the service.
Now Sir, I realize that having a monopoly on an industry can make it rather difficult to give good customer service, but the USPS is making it rather inconvenient for the average person or small company to do business with it. The policies in place are draconian and it is easier for a person to resolve a situation themselves, than to rely on any accurate assistance from the station people.
Good news travels fast and bad news travels at the speed of light. The new rules and regulations, which were not disseminated to customers, has your customers cranky. The reputation of the USPS is not good and is getting worse. Quite frankly Sir, the USPS is simply difficult to do business with.
Perhaps instead of giving huge bonuses to high level employees, even in a year when you are losing money, you should spend some time and energy learning what your customer wants and needs and then provide it.
Regards,
RikaStrom
Human Resources Manger
“Courage is contagious. When a brave person takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.” - Billy Graham
Just look at these schedules. Hard to make heads or tails out of some of it, but it does look like some mailers only pay pennies per piece.
Here is an idea for the post office that will help with their funding: Raise the stamp price to, say, $1000 per stamp. This in turn will cause 300 million people to purchase a lifetime supply (and some may even finance purchasing for their kin and/or estates) of $0.41 cent stamps between now and May 1.
Of course, nobody will ever purchase even a single $1000 stamp, but the flood of $0.41 cent sales would be so huge, the PO could just put sales into a money market, and finance the business forever on the interest.
And speaking of postal rapes...
“The cost of a 2 oz letter is going to 59 cents”
But the cost to mail a 2 oz DVD disc (like Netflix) is about $1.33
Tell me why. Same weight.
Post office is out to take advantage of the discs being shipped rather than what they used to make off the much heavier videotape or book shipments.
Blatantly unfair.
“The vast majority of pieces they carry are advertisements and other “boxholder” junk.”
Really. Our PO has a box for such stuff which they recycle.
Full all the time.
No I’m OK with the USPS most of the time. Ours is still one of the best in the world.
Didn't retake the course after that "D" in econ did you? Good thing other businesses don't adjust for the higher cost of operating - all kinds of prices would be going up!
Go do some research. The budget adjustments the USPS is facing are reductions. The USPS also doesn't have the luxury of tacking on surcharges like UPS or FedEX when the cost of gas goes thru the roof. If one wants to complain about aspects of the USPS there are valid issues; this isn't one of them.
I have been waiting for my accountant in CT to get to me, in FL, tax returns from 2005.
It’s a month now. He’s sent it three times and none of them get through.
06489 to 33523
The post office has sold 5 billion Forever stamps since they were introduced last April and plans to have an additional 5 billion in stock to meet the expected demand before the May price change, the agency said.
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Postal officials. The forever stamp is just a stamp it has simply replaced a regular .41 cent stamp. And will now become the replacement for the .42 what I would like to know is why would the Postal service bulk up on their stock of these stamps. It took a year to sell 5 billion of them the first time and lots of people have already stocked up. Do they expect people to double up on their stamps supply. Next they will be renting space to store the extra inventory.
not quite
No, I’m with you. I think from a customer stand point we get off pretty cheap. Door to door delivery for next to nothing.
They will tell you it's the size that makes the difference (boys, stop snickering!) and probably throw in some fol-der-rol about special sized machines to handle the "odd" size of a Netflix envelope.
Oh, for pity’s sake, why don’t they just make it an even 45, so we can go a few more years without an increase?
I think the price was 32 cents last time I mailed something. The post office could close up and I wouldn’t notice it for a year or two, except I wouldn’t have to shred a lot of nonsense junk someone stuffs into the little box by my door everyday.
Buy a bunch of those “forever stamps”.
Like Ben said, " A penny saved, is a penny earned."
I send snail mail so infrequently that I never know what the postage rate is. So when I do send a letter, I reach in the desk drawer, take out my old stamps, and put two on the envelope, just to be sure.
Will somebody please tell me why they need to increase postage AGAIN? There have been constant increases ever since 9/11 and the anthrax scare.
I’d also like to know why in the heck the postal service, a federal agency, has to spend money to ADVERTISE?! Last week I received two identical postcard fliers telling me I could order postage from home. Give me a break. I know how costly it is for them to have a marketing department and fancy printed things that 99% of people throw away without even looking at them. WE pay for it. Bee Ess, you stupid ‘government’. grrrrr
For all the naysayers out there, read up on some facts and figures related to USPS operations. Note in particular that "When fuel costs increase one penny, our costs increase $8 million."
We deliver to every home and business in the United States. Every American has access to our services and pays the same postage regardless of where they live or work. We …
Can you imagine the storage those stamps will take up at the 20 or 30 facilities the USPS has across the country? That and the fact that everyone has already stockpiled vast quantities if the forever stamp; why, It's just silly. Then there will be all those disposal costs and printing costs for the replacement of the forever stamp. Stupid is right. Heck, some folks can't even figure out how many months are in a year.
"Door-to-door delivery" is such a rarity that I have only lived in one place in the last 35 years that delivered my mail to my front porch. Here in Alaska, postal patrons have to go to the post office every day to get their mail.
It would be interesting to see a graph of the change in postal rates over the last century or so. I don’t think it’s my imagination that the rate has been increasing faster in the last few years.
The USPS is still in business? Hmmm. I thought FedEx/UPS/DHL put them out of business last century some time. I couldn’t tell you the last time I mailed a letter.
Like the one at Matt Maldre's blog:
The service I get from my post office is professional, courteous and friendly. I've had my mailman for over a decade....he's a fine man and watches over my mail like a hawk and looks for glitches when I'm out of town for a couple months doing my snowbird thing.
Of course, I'm never happy with a raise in the cost of stamps, but I can live with it because I find in my long experience the service and the system generally work well.
Leni
Tell me why. Same weight.
Post office is out to take advantage of the discs being shipped rather than what they used to make off the much heavier videotape or book shipments.
Blatantly unfair.
A two-ounce letter can make it from one end of the country to the other without being touched by human hands practically from the moment it's deposited in the mailbox to the moment it is delivered by the mail carrier, thanks to the massive investment in automation made by the Postal Service over the past years that has significantly multiplied the efficiency of the system.
A two-ounce NetFlix DVD, on the other hand, is too rigid and too thick to feed through the sorting equipment for letters, and thus must be sorted in the parcel mail stream at $1.30, rather than the letter mail stream, and is thus subject to more hand-sorting and much slower machine sorting.
It's only "unfair" if you don't have any idea how the postal systems function. You could always just pay $7.87 for a UPS Ground delivery, or $8.76 for FedEx Home Delivery if you don't like the Postal Service rates.
If NetFlix got the 2oz mailer thickness under 1/4", they could send it for $0.75, which would be the two-ounce letter rate plus a $0.17 non-machinable surcharge because of the rigidity.
They will? Jean Dixon, I thought you were dead!
It is because the stiffness of the DVD usually precludes it from running through machinery, and it must be manually processed at a significantly higher cost. Size can also cause higher costs if the letter is a dimensional mismatch for what the machine can process (too tall, long, short or square). So there you have it: stiffness, or size, or both. Now, are you satisfied?
I haven’t even used the book of stamps from the last rate increase.
I think George should just go do this.
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