Saturday, February 14, 2009

Save your Forevers: Postage rates going up May 11

In what is likely to be an annual event, the price of postage in the U.S. is going up again, to 44 cents on May 11.

USPS - Mailing Services Prices Effective Monday, May 11, 2009
USPS Postal News: Postal Service Mailing Services Prices to Change on May 11

According to the first article,
Prices for mailing services will continue to adjust each May. Prices for most shipping services, including Express Mail and Priority Mail, were adjusted in January and will not change in May.

Some people I know use Forever stamps as freely as they use regular First Class stamps. As a rule, I only use Forevers in extreme emergencies, or in the weeks immediately following a price change until I get new stamps. Ashley, however, pointed out that Forever stamps are most useful on self-addressed stamped envelopes, where you have no control over when your returned item will be posted, and anything sent with insufficient postage will not be delivered.

Hold onto those Forever stamps. They'll be worth more with each passing year. That is, until the United States Postal Service decides that "Forever" has come to an end.

2 comments:

whimsical brainpan said...

I was thrilled when they announced that stamps were going up. I had just bought a book of forever stamps the week before.

MaryRuth said...

The forever stamps are the only investment I've made lately that's paid off. That is, like you say, until they re-figure what forever is. =(