Comments on: How About a $.41 ‘Forever’ Stamp?

By: gitasan

gitasan — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:12:35 +0000

I too have stopped sending mail/bills mostly go online to mail. But a recent visit to the post office was crazy with people buying these stamps like they were stock or something! I will buy some but not in the amouts other folks were buying!

By: AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » Why I’m a Good Candidate for the ‘Forever’ Stamp

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:30:34 +0000

[...] On May 14th, the price of a stamp will increase to $.41 and I’ll still be using $.37 stamps! If I had been able to purchase $.37 “Forever” stamps (had they existed back then), I wouldn’t have to worry about buying extra stamps to put on my letters. [...]

By: philskaren

philskaren — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:25:28 +0000

the trips to buy them alone would benefit me since i never use stamps or think to buy them on already planned outings.

By: tinyhands

tinyhands — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:54:49 +0000

From my perspective it would be nice to have stamps that don’t “expire” (requiring 2 & 3 cent addons) but the money savings wouldn’t even amount to a drop in the bucket for the volume of stamped mail I send. I’d continue to buy single booklets as needed for convenience.

But I applaud the USPS for thinking outside the box in what must be an upside-down market for them.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:51:17 +0000

Since the cost increase of stamps hasn’t outpaced inflation, why would you do this? You might as well take your $100 and invest it in TIPS and then buy stamps in the future.

By: philskaren

philskaren — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 23:38:42 +0000

I could spend $100 on stamps that would last me almost “forever”

By: LAMoneyGuy

LAMoneyGuy — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:52:33 +0000

I love this idea. As MoneyMonk noted with all the online activity, I rarely send anything through USPS. However when I do, I always find myself looking at a bunch of stamps that I bought last time I mailed something, wondering “is this still the right amount?” I don’t care if they raise it, as long as I can know that the stuff that I have will still work.

By: Vlad

Vlad — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:27:09 +0000

Dunno what to make of this. I certainly welcome it–I hate the 1 or 2 cent increases which are just a hassle to deal with. But how do you carry such liability on your books? I suppose it’s not THAT different from gift cards … actually, it is different. With gift cards, retailers can start deducting $$$s after some time to get rid of that liability, which you can’t do with stamps.

By: Gaming The Credit System

Gaming The Credit System — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:14:15 +0000

I support the idea. I’m not going to stock up at 41 cents (I simply don’t send enough mail to try to beat inflation on frigging stamps), but at least it will avoid the hassle of the 2-cent and 3-cent stamps. I’ve still got a couple of 37-cent stamps that I haven’t used!

I just wonder if it will backfire on the USPS. Some people are bound to stock up on them, and that will represent lost revenue in the future. Hopefully they can manage the up-front funds well enough that they won’t hit a budget crunch later on.

Of course, really that discussion is mostly moot because such a huge proportion of mail nowadays is bulk mail, metered or pre-paid. Stamps are too costly/time-consuming to use on business correspondence if you send out mail with any kind of volume. Only individuals use stamps, and individuals sending letters is more and more a thing of the past. That won’t change, so this talk of “forever stamps” will mostly be a a goodwill gesture by the USPS to consumers and nothing more than a financial side-note in the long run.

By: Moneymonk

Moneymonk — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:19:31 +0000

Yeah I heard about that last night, kinda crazy because most people are paying bills online.

I guess The PO has to make up for the money thay are losing.