Snail Mail Takes A Hike

Just got some of those at Costco, where they're actually a little less than 41 cents each, but you have to get 100 at a time.

What's "a little less than 41 cents"? Thirty nine and a half cents?

Pretty much. I think I paid $40.75 for 100 stamps. Not a real reason to drive out to Costco--but it's worth picking them up if you're there anyway!

Postal Service is $700 million in the red

(From the Associated Press - May 8, 2008 WASHINGTON)

Declining mail volume and rising fuel prices resulted in a $707 million loss for the Postal Service in the quarter that wrapped up March 31.

For the quarter, the agency handled 51.3 billion pieces of mail, a decline of 3.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Both first class and standard mail declined for the period.The second-quarter loss more than offsets a profitable performance in the first quarter of the fiscal year, resulting in a loss of $35 million on revenue of $39.3 billion for the first half of the year, the post office reported.

"Weakness in the housing and credit markets, both of which are heavy users of mail, are leading the declines in mail volume," Postmaster General John Potter said.

The agency has been working to cut costs, and postal rates increase next Monday, with the price of a first-class stamp rising a penny to 42 cents.

Revenue in the second quarter was $18.9 billion, an increase from last year because of a price increase in May 2007. But the agency said its costs were $19.6 billion for the period, increasing because of higher transportation expenses, largely fuel costs.

The post office also reported strong delivery performance. National on-time performance for the delivery of first-class mail scheduled for overnight service was 96 percent, two-day service was 94 percent on time and three-day service was 92 percent on-time.

Here's an idea - stop these 1 cent increases and just increase the price of a stamp to like 50 cents.

USPS that'll be $50K for my advice.

I'm with you, ackme. These little increases are super-annoying. I'd gladly pay a little more now to save the hassle later.

Another thought:

As long as I receive credit card applications in the mail, the cost of sending mail is too low.

Little increases are annoying... I agree Should we just have Gasoline raise...it to say a nice number like $5.00 a Gallon

Damn right these little increases are annoying. I like to buy a coil of 100 stamps to keep on hand so I have them when I need them. In the last few years I don't think I've gotten through half the roll before the rate changed and I had to buy 1 or 2 cent stamps to make up the difference. One of several reasons I've been eliminating the need snail-mail stuff as much as I can.