So I was reading over the blog 100 Days of Snail Mail and saw that she was talking about the price of postage. Well..upon reading hers (she is based in Canada) I decided to do my own calculations for the US..and share them here of course.
In 1985, (the year of my birth), the cost to mail a letter within the country was 22 cents. Today that rate is 44cents..though people have probably forgotten about that because of our nice Forever Stamps. So we are actually even as far as that calculation goes. The inflation calculator says that it should be 44 cents today.
Now on to postcards! Postcards mailed inside the country in 1985 cost a blistering 14 cents to mail...and as the inflation calculator shows...they should have cost 28 cents in 2010. Obviously you cannot calculate what it would cost in 2011 because the year is only getting started. So again...we break even.
But what about International postcards and letters? In 1985 they cost 68 cents to mail and according to the inflation calculator...that same letter today should have costed $1.36! Which means that we are actually getting a discount! Our rate is only .98 cents. So we are actually saving some money according to inflation.
So next time you think about whether stamps are too expensive just think about this little post. At least here in the states, we are getting a really good deal.
As noted in the "100 Days of Snail Mail" recent blog post, Canada's postal inflation is indeed excessive. To top that off, they took away most of our actual post offices and forced us to do our postal business via the local Shoppers Drug Mart, a drug store chain. And yet we write on!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Interesting post...I would never have even taken the time to do that!
ReplyDeleteKaren- That is so sad that you dont have many real post offices up in Canada anymore!!
ReplyDeleteKimberly-I am glad you enjoyed it. I hadn't thought to do it either until I saw it on that blog!