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The Kitchen Table

First Class postage stamps to increase to 45 cents each.

12 years ago

http://www.eurweb.com/2011/10/usps-get-ready-for-another-increase-in-stamp-prices/

I have quite a few 'Forever' stamps, so I'm not concerned.

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Comments (22)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
thanks for the reminder I meant to order more forever stamps and have not done so yet, doing it now!
donna_loomis
12 years ago
We have come to expect rising prices at USPS, but to raise prices AND slow down delivery is a bit irritating, don't you think? That is just what our newspaper reported this weekend.

I understand that with email being used so much that they would be hurting, but announcing that you will pay more and get less? Seems to me that they cutting off their nose, so to speak.
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Sue, I will be emailing.... and HOW! I went to send 4 little packets of seeds in a #000 bubble mailer today at the same PO I was so proud of just a couple of posts above, and a (male) jerk/clerk insisted (impolitely, as though I were a dolt sent there specifically to make his day rough) that the fact that it was under 3/4" and the thickness was evenly distributed had nothing to do with it, that since it didn't fit through the automatic rollers as it wasn't flat then it was NOT a large envelope - he even slid it through their 3/4" template at my request... I wonder what *they* use the template for??? I appealed to the clerk next to him who in the recent past has even sent these for 58 cents, and she took it back and asked all the clerks present ("No manager here today") who all agreed (with jerk present, and he has a lot of time put in there so I think he holds a lot of sway) that it was a small parcel. Turns out that the clerk who had rec'd the memo I mentioned in the previous post was someone who worked in another PO and was only in this PO temporarily. I guess they have to import the smart ones when the dopey ones go on vacation. What a letdown. So I took my envelope out to the machine, bought 80 cents of postage (plus a 41 cent stamp since the minimum is $1.00 to use the machine), and took the envelope to the main post office about 5 miles away. I advised my trade partner to let me know if/when it gets there and to let me know if there's postage due. I hope it gets there and I can go rub jerk/clerk's nose in it. I don't understand why this is so hard to understand. I wish I had the memos the clerks are given so I could have some empathy.
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Oh My goodness...She is so clueless and doesn't know how to do her job and (imho) should be fired! If you mail a Bubble Envelope, regardless of the size or the thickness, it will be charged at the Parcel Rate of $1.22 and up. She said they don't use the device at the counter for measuring a Bubble envelope for thickness, it automatically gets charged the parcel rate. If the Bubble envelope of any size, even empty goes through their machines, it comes out ruined, so they have to put all the bubble envelopes through a different system. She is so wrong! She has been wrong ever since Shape Based pricing went into effect in May 2007...so those employees have ALL been OVERCHARGING now for going on to 4 YEARS! When will this madness end? In order to attempt to get her properly trained (isn't it sad the customers are trying to train USPS supervisors?) I suggest you print out this bulletin...First-Class Mail Fact Sheet At the bottom of it under First-Class Mail Quick Tips, it says"For padded bags (e.g., ReadyPost "cushion mailer"), when the thickness is 3/4" or less and the item is flat-size and somewhat flexible, the item should be classified and priced as a large envelope." Why is that so hard for postal employees to understand? I think even a caveman could understand that! She said that if you put the seeds in a long white envelope, with a small amount of padding in it, and if it is under an ounce, you can put a $.44 cent stamp on it and ask for the 'non machinable' rate. They would charge you another $.20 for that and so the total cost of your envelope would be $.64. hmmm...and we ALL know how well seeds do in regular envelopes with bubble wrap in them. The envelopes end up torn up and the seeds destroyed, if the envelope and seeds even make it to their destination and aren't totally destroyed. What about those who live in the rural and don't have the convenience of getting into the PO very often? What about those that get dropped into the blue mailboxes? Does she think that every envelope is read and sorted by hand so marking something Hand Stamp will be seen? Give me a break. I asked about the little gadget to measure the thickness of the envelope and she said they don't give them out, but they keep one at the counter, but they don't use it to measure bubble envelopes. It seems strange that some of were able to get them from our post offices without any problems. Would you mind posting her name and telephone number here along with her address? I will personally contact her superior from the list at the link below that lists all Vice Presidents and District Managers. It shows the zip code areas that are covered by each one. Imho, she needs to be reported littleonefb, Fran I really don't think anyone associated with the PO is reading this or is attempting to get anything done. I sure wish I could get NBC, CBS, or one of the major networks to pick up on this stealing that has been going on for almost 4 years. A lot of folks should be fired for not knowing how to do their job correctly. In the private sector, a lot of these employees would have been fired long ago. Here is a link that might be useful: USPS Management-it is an 11 page pdf file that will need to load
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Actually, I don't mind paying for stamps for the postal service, but I mind greatly subsidizing the junk mail. As long as that stuff gets discounted rates, *we* are paying for their service. That's my big peeve. I used to work the junk mail sections at night. The envelopes are all odd sizes, it's a pain in the butt to deliver, and takes just as much effort as an important letter. You wouldn't mind so much, but you know nine times out of ten, it's wasted effort. It won't even be opened. It wastes trees and fuel. I'm a businessperson, and I know that if you get a two percent response from mailouts, you're doing well. That means 98% of the ads you mail are ignored. That's ridiculous and wasteful. We are getting 'new' mailings for my DH's ex wife. It just started about a month ago and she hasn 't lived at this address for 30 YEARS! Somebody made money selling an antique mailing list. We've asked the postal carrier repeatedly to please just junk it and not deliver it, but he does anyway and we have to deal with it. It's just easier for him to case it and drop it in our box. Return postage is of course not guaranteed. And we all pay for this with our postal raises and taxes. ARgh.
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Comments (4)
Karendee, You are correct that the postal rate goes up on Monday May 11, 2009 and that a regular letter size envelope goes up to $.44. But other information that you posted is not accurate and is confusing to those that do seed trades using bubble envelopes, which is what all seeds should be mailed in and especially confusing to Newbies. First of all, a bubble envelope is considered a large envelope if it meets the following criteria The bubble envelope must be between 1/4 inch and no more than 3/4 inch in thickness, uniform in thickness, which means that LARGE ENVELOPE RATE envelopes can be no more than 3/4" thick, and the uniform contents (seed packets) need to be taped in place to avoid shifting and possibly jamming up the USPS sorting machines, or costing the receiving member Postage Due when they receive it. In otherwords If an envelope is over 1/4" and is less than 3/4" thick, and it is uniformly thick, and the contents are not shifting (taped in place) it should go as a LARGE ENVELOPE RATE. Per your link above, a 1 OZ or less envelope with the above dimensions is 88 cents and each additional OZ is 17 cents. If a bubble envelope does not meet the above requirements, then, and only then, would it go as a Parcel (package as your work calls it) Rate, which $1.22 up to and including 1 OZ. It is then an additional 17 cents for each extra ounce.. For bubble envelopes that are used for mailing seeds the correct information is as follows 1 0z $.88 2 oz $ 1.05 3 oz $ 1.22 4 oz $1.39 5 oz $1.56 6 oz $1.73 7 oz $1.90 8 0z $2.07 9 0z $2.24 10 oz $2.41 11 oz $2.58 12 oz $2.75 13 oz $2.92 parcel rates/package rates are as follows 1 oz $1.22 2 oz 1.39 3 oz 1.56 4 oz 1.73 5 oz 1.90 6 oz 2.07 7 oz 2.24 8 oz 2.41 9 oz 2.58 10 oz 2.75 11 oz 2.92 12 oz 3.09 13 oz 3.26 please see below link from USPS for accurate information on postal rate increases Newbie in nj the USPS has been using the forever stamps for quite a few years now. It is actually cheaper for them to print those for public use since the postal rates keep going up all the time. If they decided to no longer print the forever stamps, they would be stuck with far too many postage stamps with the incorrect price on them and would then have to increase the number of additional postage stamps to add to the old postal stamps to use up the stamps with the old price on it. Fran Here is a link that might be useful: USPS accurate information on postal rate changes from USPS
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pekemom
12 years ago
The last few years I've been sending less and less Christmas cards, I see that will continue.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
oh they have some really pretty forever stamps this year. I chose the Garden of Love stamps very pretty and colorful
Item No: 576140
the deed is done!
glenda_al
12 years ago
Yep, bought me a bunch of forever stamps last week.
marie_ndcal
12 years ago
It is not the postage I object to is the cutting back on next day delivery. I cannot see where that make the difference. I get prescriptions by mail and by eliminating one of the regional postal centers near me (Minot) now it could take up to 3 days and DH's insulin cannot be guaranteed it there is no damage because the meds will be in trucks, rooms that may or may not have climate control etc. And the regional center they plan to use has a high rate of lost mail/stolen mail.
That is what I object to.
Adella Bedella
12 years ago
looks like more business for FedEx and UPS.
kudzu9
12 years ago
Forty-five cents seems to me like it's still quite a bargain. And it's hard to argue against rising postal costs when many people won't tolerate any tax increases to pay for services they want/need.
sheesh
12 years ago
I can't imagine what FedEx and Ups would charge to deliver a letter, and they do not deliver everywhere. USPS is the greatest bargain around. As far as I know, not one thing going from or coming to my house has ever been "lost in the mail." I agree that next day service is a shame to lose, but all in all, not a big deal.

Marie, I think your mail order pharmacy will consider allowing you to get insulin at a local pharmacy for the same price, given the circumstances. I am sure they want their insulin guaranteed safe.
marie_ndcal
12 years ago
I do get my meds from a local pharmacy, but with our winters and distance they mail them out if we wish with fair charges for pricing. Just clarifying this. It is cheaper to pay for postage, than drive into town, which takes about 45 minutes which is ok except like now with snow or too much snow to drive in at my age.
morz8 - Washington Coast
12 years ago
marie, i hadn't thought about time and temperature sensitive shipments of a health nature, only possible damage to plants mailed and inside a box longer, thanks for pointing that out....

As for the 1 cent more per stamp, I can handle that - my roll of 100 that I buy a few times a year will cost $1 more, less than 1/3 of one gal of gas in my part of the country. USPS is a business, and like all businesses these days, their expenses have risen - health care for employees, fuel for deliveries, energy fees to operate post offices. Not saying I like it, just saying...

They've been cutting back on services for a while now, our PO is open (with the clerks present for weighing packages, picking up things that require signature) only 10 AM- 2 PM on Saturdays instead of all day. Anyone moving into, or even moving within, our community as of six years ago cannot place their mailbox at their front door any more, it has to be on a post at the sidewalk. With two homes on this block, you can see people scurrying out in the rain in their robes to collect their mail, the rest of us reaching a discreet arm out through a partially opened door - still no need to slip into shoes :)
Jodi_SoCal
12 years ago
Oh damn, I had to mail a letter last week and only had a 44 cent stamp. I thought the postage had already gone up so I slapped another 44 cent stamp on it. So it cost me 88 cents to mail a check to a city 15 miles away. Oh well.
Marilyn Sue McClintock
12 years ago
I am pretty well supplied with Forever Stamps, but may buy some more pretty Christmas ones to have for next year.

Sue
jannie
12 years ago
I just bought 100 Forever stamps.
bunnylover21
12 years ago
My post office told me that all "regular" stamps now are forever stamps.
arcy_gw
12 years ago
"The proposed first-class stamp Ã¯Â¿Â½ aka the forever stamp" This says to me we never have to buy one cent stamps to keep up. I hope that is true. I always buy a big Christmas stamp order so I have religious stamps for all my bills for the year.
LuAnn_in_PA
12 years ago
"I hope that is true."
No need to HOPE it is true.... it IS true.
LuAnn_in_PA
12 years ago
Forgot to add.... IF you bought ones marked 'forever'.
Some 44 centers are still being sold... you would need the penny addition for those.
jemdandy
12 years ago
For the last 6 months, I have been stocking up on the 'forever' stamps, knowing that the change was coming, just didn't know when.

Thanks for the tip. I will get at least a 2 year supply this week.
susanjf_gw
12 years ago
it's still cheaper and faster than the first deliverd mail, lol...it was about $1 a letter and by horse...
gmom74
12 years ago
Our mail service has already been changed. The postman used to come no later than 4 or five- now it might be almost 7 before he gets here. I guess he had to take over a partial route from someone else in addition to his regular one. The drop box near here was always picked up by one. I put some things in it at 3 yesterday and it was full to almost running over. Anyone could have reached into it and gotten a hand full of mail. I did put mine in but I pushed everything down so that it couldn't bee seen from the outside.
ruthieg__tx
12 years ago
I haven't had time to read all the comments but honestly, delivery is so cheap and for the most part, pretty darn dependable so I don't know what everyone is so perturbed about.

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