Postage Increases Effective May 11, 2009

Effective Monday, May 11, 2009, postage increases on practically all classes of mail and their related services – first class U.S., first class international, periodicals, standard (a.k.a. bulk), and package services. 

If you have Forever Stamps, they are good regardless of whether postage is $.42 or $.44; you purchase them at today’s rate, but they are worth whatever face value at the time of mailing.

Most of us remember the postage increase last May – taking our first class 1 ounce letter rate up from $.41 to $.42.  (It was $.39 just before that.)  This May, the comparable postage will increase from $.42 to $.44.  And, guess what, it gets reviewed again next May.  It is the United States Postal Service’s philosophy to review postage every year in order to provide smaller, more predictable price changes.

So, postage is going up.  A lot of things go up in price.  We could probably live with that.  But what about service?  Is that getting better?  Is there more?  Or are they talking about less?  They are talking about less.  The greatest increases in postage are coming to areas where mail must be handled manually instead of by machines.  This makes the Post Office personnel work harder which translates to more expensive.  The USPS cannot meet their budget, so they are considering dropping a day of service – enabling them to lessen their costs while increasing their prices at the expense of their customers.

The USPS has a monopoly on their service.  For us customers of theirs, we have very few options.  It does give us pause to reflect … is there anything we can do?  Please share your thoughts.