Friday, February 17, 2012

Postage to 50 Cents?

Anyone else read about the proposed postage increase to 50 cents to mail a first class letter?? This was all over the news here, just a day after it was decided that three area post offices would remain open.

If you want to read the article I read this morning you can find it here..though I imagine some other articles may have more information. Regardless, here are the main points:

  • Talks of ending Saturday mail delivery
  • Increasing first class postage to 50 cents either in one year..or over the course of a few years
  • Slowing first class delivery by one day

My thoughts? Well, I will have to do some more looking, but I had an article to share about cutting the Saturday delivery. Second, I really think they should have increased the first class postage to 50 cents with this last round of increases. 50 cents is a nice round number AND it would have saved us from increasing postage every 6 months. (Not that it bothers me too much, but still..I would rather take the increase all at once than every couple months). Slowing the first class delivery probably wont affect much other than packages. In my opinion letters and mail in general is worth waiting for. So why rush it? After all..it is called snail mail for a reason.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts..and as soon as I find time..I will write a longer post about the Saturday mail delivery issue.

9 comments:

  1. I hadn't heard about the proposals, yet, but they don't sound too bad. Fifty cents is still affordable, although it will be a fairly big increase for those who mail lots of letters. And, I think most would rather give up Saturday delivery rather than lose more post offices. I found a news release online (http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_029.htm), as well as a link to a pdf of the plan. But, you have to look hard... those proposals are on page 13 of the 27-page document. Thanks for the update!

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  2. As much as $.50 per letter would add up quickly, it's still MUCH cheaper than my previous hobby that I've had to stop doing because the gas money was killing us! (Civil War Reenactments. $250 in gas and food alone to go from West GA to Selma, AL for a weekend!!!! And that's one of the "closer" events!!!) So, yeah. I'd pay the few cents more, absolutely.

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  4. Not a problem here - just remember to stock up on those "forever" stamps :)

    And what is up with the longer captcha??

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  5. I could live without Saturday mail if it would keep more offices open.

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  6. 365 Letters- Thank you for posting that! I hadn't found it online yet..perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough. Haha

    Jenny- It is very true, but if we do as Derrick suggested and stocked up on Forever stamps..we wouldn't feel the increase as much.

    Derrick- So true! The time to stock up is now!

    Stuff- I agree with you completely. I could as well. =)

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  7. Fifty cents would be worth it for me to send a letter. I will buy stamps at every rate on the way up, because I love to have the latest & greatest & I also love to go back & use up old stamps. I miss having a denomination on each stamp because I like to pull out old ones & mix & match to hit the current rate. Glad we have the new weather vanes with 45 cents.

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  8. Fifty cents to mail a letter is totally worth it to me. International postage rates are harder to swallow and the dollars add up quickly but I still think we're getting a bargain when it comes to postage. I have to drive 5 miles to get to my post office (which is also the nearest mailbox) and with today's gas prices a one-way trip costs me $1.00. Compare that to the journey your letter makes and you'll see what I mean.

    Marti - I, too, like to mix & match older stamps to jazz up my envelopes and to hit the current rate. I asked my post master about using the forever stamps to do this. Specifically 1)Can they be used for international mail? 2)Do I use the price I paid for the stamp as the value of the stamp? I was told that the forever stamps could be used and that they would be valued at whatever the first class rate is at the time I use them. So, to send a letter overseas I could use 2 forever stamps (now valued at 45 cents each) and any combination of other stamps that would total 15 cents since the current international letter rate is $1.05.

    I suspect that the postal service has decided to go with forever stamps because it is far less complicated than those denomination-less stamps that they used to issue when they couldn't decide what the new rate would be. Remember those G stamps and other lettered stamps? What a mess!

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  9. Using the forevers and old stamps at the same time makes me very happy. In fact I tend to send packages with stamps as well. Having a nice collection of old and new stamps makes it easy to select a stamp that will look nice on an envelope. =)

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