Postage stamp prices *rant*

[Hippie Chickie]

I'm a rural postal carrier. My least favorite time of the year is just around the corner. Postage rate hikes. The beggining of May the price of a first calss stamp will go up to 44 cents. That is a two cent hike. So here is a preemptive retort to all of the inane comments I'm sure to hear: No I will not be getting a raise from your two cents. No I will not steal you two pennies that have been taped to the leter. Yes if you hand me the two cents I will buy you a two cent stamp and put it on your letter. No it's not a bad thing that the rate is going up.
Grrrr, I hate it when a customer complains for ten minutes about two cents. Now multiply that by ten or twenty times a day. The witty retort that you have come up with about the rate increase is probably not that witty or original. Believe me, I have heard it before... At least one or two hundred times. Prices going up sucks, I know. Instead of complaining stock up on forever stamps, they'll cost you forty-two cents and still work when the stamp price is fourty-four. The hike will cost an average household about three more dollars a year. That's it.
Personally I don't think stamp prices have gone up all that much when you look at the big picture. I happened to pull out a letter in the envelope from a friend that was mailed in '95. I looked at the postage. thirty-two cents. In fourteen years the price of a stamp has gone up twelve cents. come on. Is it really worth complaining about?. For every cent that gas goes up at the pump the post office spends something like a million more dollars in fuel costs. How do you think they pay for it?
All right, I'm done complaining. I just get so tired of hearing gripes about two cents. Postage rates are tied to inflation. No inflation, no raise. Now if only my pay was tied to inflation right!

 

[cw]

i hear ya i always skin my postman alive about the two cents this time a year just kiddin keep up the good work

 

[greyhorsewoman]

I so agree with you hippie chick. The postal service gets a bum rap too much of the time. The other day I was thinking the same thing ... what else can you spend under fifty cents for and get it across the country and DELIVERED to the DOOR of your addressee?

I have a small business and the USPS has contributed greatly with Priority mail boxes, free delivery confirmation & discounted postage by using clicknship. It saves me time & money. I keep my fingers crossed that my little post office won't be shut down. It's a major convenience.

There are a lot of things out there jumping in price ... an additional 2 cents to mail a letter isn't going to change my life.

 

[purr]

I agree for the I think the USPS does an awesome job and its the only thing that is still affordable.

 

[domino7]

Well in my opinion it IS part of the big picture. It's not just 2 cents. It's another 5% rate increase. As a small business owner who bills customers by the month it will impact me. I wish I could raise my prices 5% when I wanted. Unfortunately I have competitors. That's my 2 cents.

 

[domino7]

I want to say that I would never mention it to my mail carrier. He had nothing to do with it, nor can he do anything about it. He's just doing a job like most of us.

 

[newchickenfamily]

Not sure why people bother the mail carriers about it.

They didn't make the rules!

 

[Hippie Chickie]

Domino7, we do keep our prices in line with our customers. That's why our prices last year went up so much. We were not only a little cheaper than our competitors, but alot cheaper. USPS can't raise their prices whenever they want either. They can raise them once a year in line with inflation for stamps and to be competitive with the market for packages. We can't put a fuel surcharge like some other package delivery companies. You would not believe what some people bug their mail people with. It blows my mind sometimes. On the plus side however, one lady gave me a nice cool bottle of water today while I was delivering. The little things keep me happy.

 

[Whispering Winds]

Don't anyone get postal! Just kidding, that is a standard line around here because we are so rural and everyone knows the postal workers like family. I love to write letters

and I hate to see postage go up

, but I hated seeing gas go up to $4+ a gallon a lot worse,

and my little Honda gets right at 38 miles to the gallon

. . .its a sign of the times, and we might as well just put our big girl panties on and deal with it!!! It's sure not the postman/person's fault, anymore than its the gas attendants fault about the gas price back then. . .we are all just victims of corporate greed, although the way it sounds to me, the postal service is in big trouble with debt. . .

 

[NancyDz]

And can't you just buy the forever stamps right now for the current price and they will work when it goes up? I dont get why people complaining dont just buy a bunch of books of those and not worry about it???