Before I retired, I'd buy stamps every few weeks.....but since then it's been months before my wife and I would need to make the trip to the post office and drop a few bucks. Well yesterday the time to do so. $68.00 bucks!!! for roll of stamps!!! I almost S#i%%!! and the postmaster told me hang on because they were going up to $75.00 a roll in a couple of weeks. Can you believe that???? 75CENTS for a first class stamp!!! I know I'm a old fart but I can remember when could mail a letter for 16cents!!! and maybe even less............and get a hell of lot better service.

You think US Postage is expensive, try mailing a letter in Britain. UK£1 = US$1.27

https://www.mymailingroom.com/rm-prices

There really are very few reasons in 2024 to be mailing anything through snailmail like this. Maybe start using online more?

Ah the good old days.

Is USPS still a chronic money-loser?

I figure it could reduce its costs significantly by stopping Saturday delivery. Even if USPS continued to pay the carriers for that day, the annual savings on fuel and vehicle maintenance ought to be "yuge." Think about it: What comes to your box by USPS that really HAS to be there on Saturday?

quote:

I know I'm a old fart but I can remember when could mail a letter for 16cents!!!

You are not old. I remember 3 Cent stamps.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

I remember 3 Cent stamps.

Penny postcards

It's annoying, but in reality, I used so few stamps these days that I can't get too worked up over it. I usually buy a sheet of stamps (I think maybe 115-20 stamps? and it'll last a year or more.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:

quote:

I know I'm a old fart but I can remember when could mail a letter for 16cents!!!

You are not old. I remember 3 Cent stamps.

I must be in between - the cheapest stamps I remember are 4 cents.
The only thing I mail these days are my property tax payments.

Well they have to keep the conveyor belts running in Palmetto, Ga.

How else can they afford to hold the same package for two weeks?

Yeah, I don't much care either. I use maybe one of those books a year, two at most. Almost everything is electronic now.

Yes and no. I agree. But on the other hand, I wouldn't walk it out to your mailbox for $.75, let along take it cross country.



No worries, Amazon mail should be along any time.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
There really are very few reasons in 2024 to be mailing anything through snailmail like this. Maybe start using online more?

Pretty much this.

I use less than 1 stamp per year on average. Mostly for stuff like mailing back FFL renewal forms, since there's not an online way to do that yet. (Right about the only time I write checks any more as well... The ATF is firmly stuck in the 1990s.)

I still have a couple sheets of the "forever" Batman stamps the USPS was offering back in 2014, with only a few stamps used so far. These 35 or so remaining Batman stamps are easily going to last me the rest of my life.

Not sure what it would save, they should reorganize & deliver every other day. There may be options to encourage P.O. Boxes for some.

Seems it’s time to think outside the bun, lots of expense delivering that junk mail.

I am the only one I know that purchased 15 years worth of Forever stamps when they first came out.

Little did I know, I took inventory and it seems that I purchased 20 years worth.


Oh well, now I have something to put in a will / trust.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Yeah, I guess I don't understand. I think I still have some of the same forever stamps I bought when they first came out.

And I guess when I think about it it's not really too bad. I can barely get out of my neighborhood without spending $.75 on gas these days. The post office gets a lot of shit, but they also provide a a really incredible service.

I went and bought some more forever stamps a few days ago and was told they're going up again. Like others have said, I can't get too worked up about it. $30 to send a package to San Antonio seems a little steep, but maybe it's not on a per-unit-weight basis.

About the only things I send by snail mail anymore are birthday and Christmas cards. All my bills are paid electronically, and most of them come to me electronically too. There are some outliers though. I make monthly donations to a couple of charities; those are done electronically by auto-pay so no statements are necessary, but they both insist on sending me a paper statement every month (usually accompanied by a request for an "extra, emergency" donation). And of course I always receive a shit ton of junk mail, especially during election years.

Here's an idea to help reduce USPS's cost: Eliminate the bulk rates that junk mail senders get. It would either increase the per-envelope revenue for USPS, or decrease the volume of crap that we all get. Maybe both.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Is USPS still a chronic money-loser?

Yes. We bring in less than we're spending. Thank the union for that. They totally hamstring management while lazy carriers get away with murder and get paid overtime doing so.

I’ve had two kids get married in two months. The wife has been burning through my 50 cent forever stamp board like she is burning them.

I am still old school and pay all of my bills with a check and a stamp. I am comfortable with doing it.