Sound Off
Sound Off: I heard that postage went up recently. Are the “forever” stamps that were purchased in 2011 adequate now? What are the rates now?
Postage for a one-ounce letter went up to 45 cents, postal employee Greg Howard said. But forever stamps bought in 2011 will still be recognized, without the need of additional postage.
Marketplace
Arts & Entertainment · Bars · Theatres · Restaurants · Coffeehouses · Libraries · Antiques · Services
- New law seen as way to increase independence for those with disabilities May 29, 2012 · 6 comments
- National group seeks repeal of 'Stand Your Ground' law in Kansas May 27, 2012 · 164 comments
- Town Talk: UPDATE: Frank Male files for county commission; keep an ear open for local sales tax talk; city hires new city engineer; wholesale water district buys land near Kaw; weekly land transfers May 29, 2012 · 8 comments
- Kansas tax act most regressive in nation May 27, 2012 · 275 comments
- U.S. military sees new appreciation May 28, 2012 · 45 comments
- Blog: Iranian Nuclear Energy: Will It Destroy Lives Or Save Them? May 29, 2012 · 4 comments
- God, marriage May 25, 2012 · 200 comments
- Tax gamble May 26, 2012 · 94 comments
- Remove politics, and redistricting map falls in line May 27, 2012 · 52 comments
- Sound Off: How much does the city’s transit system collect in fares compared with how much it costs May 27, 2012 · 136 comments
- Kansas tax act most regressive in nation May 27, 2012
- Thread of pain ran through Jackson’s career June 28, 2009
- Friends mourn Lynn Bretz, former voice of KU May 28, 2012
- Hilltop executive director Pat Pisani stepping down May 28, 2012
- Town Talk: UPDATE: Frank Male files for county commission; keep an ear open for local sales tax talk; city hires new city engineer; wholesale water district buys land near Kaw; weekly land transfers May 29, 2012
- How to help: Guides needed for Lamplight Tour of Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park May 27, 2012
- Library kicks off reading program May 27, 2012
- City, county mull upgrade to emergency radio system May 28, 2012
- Tax gamble May 26, 2012
- Hard-luck loss: Blue Valley West walk-off sends Lawrence High baseball home in pitchers’ duel May 26, 2012
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
FarneyMac (Pádraig O'Connell) says…
What about "forever" is so difficult to understand?
Solomon (anonymous) says…
Either the "for" or the "ever" part, probably.
Informed (anonymous) says…
That was my thought also, FM. Especially since, when the Forever stamps first hit the market, they were merchandised as a way to avoid future postal increases. I still have some Forever stamps I bought in 2009. Looks like they were worth it.
youngjayhawk (anonymous) replies…
"forever stamps bought in 2011 will still be recognized"
Hope your loss is not too great!
Informed (anonymous) replies…
Huh?
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
He was pointing out your stamps are from 2009 and the article states stamps bought in 2011 are still good. A joke that went over your head.
Informed (anonymous) replies…
Well, I actually considered that, but since, up until that point, we were commenting on the 'forever' part of 'forever', it was a bit obtuse.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Ronaldo Ignacio) says…
I am still using forever stamps I purchased in 2007.
Between the rate increase and other factors, I figure I am earning 7¢ every bill I pay.
ignatius_j_reilly (anonymous) replies…
Or, if your receiving company would do bills online, you're only losing 30-odd cents for each bill vs. 40-odd.
KUweatherman (Curtis Lange) says…
I wonder about people sometimes. :/
wissmo (anonymous) says…
Um, I guess I save .45@ with auto deduction services and pay online.
overthemoon (anonymous) says…
45 cents is a bargain. With FedEX and UPS trying to push the USPS out of the market, just think what it would cost to mail a birthday card!! I recently got a letter from a friend in MO. It came in one day. No expedited delivery, just regular mail. For 43 cents. I think we need to think about the cost of mail relatively and not be going nuts over 2 cents.
Did_I_say_that (DIST) replies…
"With FedEX and UPS trying to push the USPS out of the market..."
First, there was no "market" until UPS created it; prior to that USPS had a government owned monopoly.
Second, FedEx and UPS do not offer daily door-to-door delivery. So how are they pushing USPS out of the market? How is it FedEx or UPS's fault that people don't use/need daily junk mail deliveries?
acornwebworks (Kendall Simmons) replies…
The "market" was created long before the USPS. Indeed, private delivery of letters was the *only* option before 1871. That's like, uh, for the first 95 years of our nation.
And, for the delivery of packages? Ever hear of Wells Fargo or American Express?? They were among the many private transportation/delivery companies that were absolutely necessary for the delivery of non-first class mail. Heck, it wasn't until the early 20th century that the USPS even started delivering non-first class mail! (I've heard it started with the Sears Roebuck catalog in 1906.)
So...we had 95 years with private delivery of first class mail, and over 130 years of private delivery of packages...*before* UPS came along. 130+ years of market development.
Oh...and let's not forget that UPS was started in 1907. (It was called American Messenger Company for the first 12 years.) Wow. UPS started almost exactly when the USPS started delivering something other than first class mail.
So...could you please explain your "there was no "market" until UPS created it; prior to that USPS had a government owned monopoly"? I mean, the facts certainly don't support that statement...but perhaps I'm missing something?
Did_I_say_that (DIST) replies…
I will obviously accept your correction on the historical facts. However, it only supports my refutation that other companies are trying to force USPS out of the market - in fact it appears to be the other way around considering your time line.
So, how does any of this relate to the two problems that USPS has? First, not as much first class mail is being posted. Second, they cannot provide the same price/level of service as the private companies.
kansanbygrace (anonymous) replies…
Wrong on the second point, dist. usps, one of the best mail delivery services in the world, delivers small and light for less and faster than any of the competitors.
Another point is that every single day, a great portion of the small packages that ups, fedex, dhl handle are delivered to the USPS for postal carriers to deliver to their destination.
The private deliveries would be substantially more expensive if they didn't outsource their small package handling to USPS.
friendlyjhawk (anonymous) says…
What are the USA H First-Class Rate stamps worth as postage today?
thebcman (anonymous) replies…
33 cents.
kujeeper (anonymous) says…
USPS is horrible, typical government workers who won't go above and beyond for any reason. Lets privatize it, see postage decrease, and service quality sky rocket. I just got a Christmas card from KC last week and I only live 55 miles from the sender, they could've walked it to me faster!
uglyrumor (anonymous) replies…
I would question the date that card was sent. I use the USPS about 4 times a week, around 4 parcels per week, for work. In 6 years I have had one package that was not received. I truly believe that the samples were lost in processing at the the lab, but we'll say that the package never arrived. That's .0008% of packages sent in 6 years. Pretty decent by any standard. The idea that privatization would lead to decreased costs and increased service is not based on fact. Privatization of utilities has proven the opposite. Fact.
uglyrumor (anonymous) replies…
I would question the date that card was sent. I use the USPS about 4 times a week, around 4 parcels per week, for work. In 6 years I have had one package that was not received. I truly believe that the samples were lost in processing at the the lab, but we'll say that the package never arrived. That's .0008% of packages sent in 6 years. Pretty decent by any standard. The idea that privatization would lead to decreased costs and increased service is not based on fact. Privatization of utilities has proven the opposite. Fact.
uglyrumor (anonymous) replies…
I would question the date that card was sent. I use the USPS about 4 times a week, around 4 parcels per week, for work. In 6 years I have had one package that was not received. I truly believe that the samples were lost in processing at the the lab, but we'll say that the package never arrived. That's .0008% of packages sent in 6 years. Pretty decent by any standard. The idea that privatization would lead to decreased costs and increased service is not based on fact. Privatization of utilities has proven the opposite. Fact.
acornwebworks (Kendall Simmons) replies…
You mean...like how private FedEx and UPS offer a sooooo much less expensive option for sending that Christmas card??? Uh huh. Sure.
Unlike you, I don't expect perfection...but I still haven't had something I sent via first class take more than a day to get to its destination in years. (And I use first class mail regularly for specific reasons so, yes, I actually do know if the mail has been received.) Unfortunately, one of the USPS plans for lowering costs is up the delivery goal to 2 days. Cutting costs of providing service...lesser results.
By the way, it sounds like you didn't know that FedEx and UPS depend on the USPS for deliveries to remote rural areas. Yup. That's what they do...hand off deliveries to the USPS. Kinda sounds...to me...like the way they stay so "efficient" is by utilizing that very thing you think needs to be privatized.
acornwebworks (Kendall Simmons) replies…
As an aside...wanna know where USPS are losses coming from? From Congress mandating, in 2006, that the USPS set aside $5.5 billion annually for 10 years into a “Future Retiree Health Fund”.
There's already over $40 billion in the account but, even with USPS financial problems due to changes in how Americans communicate with each other, Congress won't back off. Won't reduce the amount by a single penny. Won't even allow the funding to be stretched by smaller set asides over a longer time period now that there's sufficient funding to cover costs for over 40 years!!!
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
"Lets privatize it, see postage decrease"
Yeah, that's why Fed Ex wants to charge me $16.06 to send an envelope from Lawrence to Kansas City and USPS charges me $0.45 for the same envelope.
globehead (anonymous) replies…
Odd, I mailed a letter from downtown KC just before midnight once addressed to my mother in Topeka. She got it at 10:00am the very next morning. Of course, I did use a stamp on mine.
tange (anonymous) says…
Farney and Solomon retort:
What about "forever" is so difficult to understand?
Either the "for" or the "ever" part, probably.
This is Kansas.
I'm pretty sure our illustrious Gpvernpr could somehow finagle even the USPS, in the name of "savings" for this Great State, to devalue even the forever postage stamp.
"That was forever; this is now."
wissmo (anonymous) says…
Kujeeper, Even sadder
Much like the sticker shock of the 1990s when citizens realized school administration in small communities were making 100K or more. In Western Kansas some of these birds were making 3 x more than anybody else in the county. We did nothing. Not much has been done about the contracts loaded with cash out insurance, new cars, full pay for a year after retirement, and gulp (smile you paid for it), the famous consulting contracts, we should now turn our attention to the USPS. Well all non specialized tax payer funded jobs really.
Folks are now realizing we gave up the farm to fed workers. BTW....regarding a national story ......The more folks know about Wisconsin state employees pay packages the less popular the protests are. Notice you don't hear much anymore. Why? The citizens of Wisconsin saw the real figures and benefits and are sizzling mad.
Check and see how much an average postal worker makes. Check out what the ave. for an asst. manager (10 years) of a small town post office makes. State employee benefits are generous, you should see what our federal buddies receive. You do not need any training except a high school diploma either. Think folks would line up for a job like the above?
parrothead8 (anonymous) replies…
"... we should now turn our attention to the USPS. Well all non specialized tax payer funded jobs really."
You do know that the USPS isn't funded by taxpayer dollars, right?
acornwebworks (Kendall Simmons) replies…
Would you *PLEASE* explain to me why your goal is to lower other workers' pay and benefits packages...rather than to raise those of everyone else? Or at least to raise those of yourself? That makes ZERO sense: "I don't make as much as you do, so I want you to make less!" Uh huh.
Oh...and if you are actually whining because "it's taxpayer dollars"...then please explain why you used postal workers as an example, then. After all, they aren't paid by taxpayer dollars! They get ZERO taxpayer dollars.
wissmo (anonymous) replies…
Comrade acorn, have you read about the Greek economy lately? A Euro country (weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee everybody gets everything) which may not have the moolah to pay the electric bill in March. Germany is pi@@ed off. Not nice to make Germany mad.
Yes, when people like mail folks earn more than teachers, by a long shot something needs to be done which makes sense.
rockchalker52 (anonymous) says…
Fund the damn post office & while you're at it, throw some money in there for public broadcasting.
JackMcKee (anonymous) says…
There are no stupid questions. There are only stupid people.
purplesage (anonymous) says…
When did this latest increase take effect? I don't remember news coverage.
FedEx and UPS both deliver piles of stuff to the post office. Then, the postal service is supposed to make the final leg of the delivery to an address. I say supposed to; a recent experience, small town, a parcel arrived from Massachusetts. Once the post office got it, it was never seen again. At least, until some unknown good samaritan left it, 3 weeks later on our back porch on a Saturday morning.
Why can the privately run, for profit agencies make a bundle and the post office is a welfare case?
JackMcKee (anonymous) replies…
take one look at the people working at the post office and you're question will be answered.
grammaddy (anonymous) replies…
What kind of slam is that? Are you aware that USPS is the single largest employer of Veterans?
wissmo (anonymous) replies…
Good, love vets, also like to see my money working correctly.
deec (anonymous) replies…
The post office receives NO taxpayer funding. UPS and Fedex subsidize their profits by handing off their mail to the post office in rural areas for delivery. Both UPS and Fedex also raised their rates recently.
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
Mail a letter with UPS or FedEx and see what they charge you.
I went to fed ex website and got quote to ship an envelope weighing 0.01 pounds from Lawrence to Kansas City. The cheapest quote was $16.06.
Which would you prefer to pay to send a Xmas card to Grandma... $0.45 or $16.06?
That's why "for profit agencies make a bundle". Because they charge 35 times more than USPS.
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
I should mention that envelope won't be delivered until Wednesday the 15th. Today is the 11th.
mommatocharlie (anonymous) replies…
January 15 or 16. Where have you been hiding? It was plastered all over the news.
tennesseerader (anonymous) says…
U.S. postage has gone up 41% in five years. That is over 8% per year! In other words if you would have bought $100,000 of "Forever" U.S. postage stamps five years ago they would be worth more than $141,000 today. That is a better rate of return than any CD and just as safe.
Postage rates remained relatively unchanged until the 1960's and after the last link of the U.S. currency to gold was broken in 1971 the FED has printed money and devalued the currency.
From the Daily Oklahoman December 9th, 1951 said it best:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.
deec (anonymous) replies…
Postal rates have risen from 39 cents to 45 cents in the last five years.
http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html
"Declining mail volume is a symptom of the weak national economy[citation needed], particularly related to the financial and housing industries, and to trends toward the use of electronic mail. First-Class mail volume (which is protected by legal monopoly) peaked in 2001[24] and has declined 29% from 1998 to 2008, due to the increasing use of email and the World Wide Web for correspondence and business transactions.[25] Lower volume means lower revenues to support the fixed commitment to deliver to every address once a day, six days a week. In response, the USPS has increased productivity each year from 2000 to 2007,[26] through increased automation, route re-optimization, and facility consolidation.[25] Despite these efforts, the organization saw an $8.5 billion budget shortfall in 2010,[27] and has been losing money at a rate of about $3 billion per quarter in 2011.[28]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_S...
acornwebworks (Kendall Simmons) replies…
A situation that could be eased by Congress backing off from their 10 year $5.5 billion requirement that the USPS fund the “Future Retiree Health Fund”.
Right now there's over 40 years of funding in it. But Congress won't even considered stretching the last 5 years of this requirement out over a longer period and concomitantly reducing the annual funding requirement.
Seems like they want to drive the USPS out of business so that there doesn't *need* to be any health care funding needed after a while.
wissmo (anonymous) replies…
I am 6 decades old, the USPS has been barking the same lame message for my entire life.
RonHolzwarth (Ron Holzwarth) replies…
"after the last link of the U.S. currency to gold was broken in 1971"
You mean in 1933.
The link to silver was broken in 1971.
FlintHawk (Cate Murphy) says…
Here's some clarification: Only the "Forever" stamps that have "Forever" printed vertically on the right hand side of the stamp are true "forever" stamps.
I spent hours earlier in the week trying to get accurate information about the increase and "Forever" stamps. Many people bought what they thought at the time were "Forever" stamps (no amount shown on the stamp), but turns out those stamps are NOT forever.
The only real Forever stamps I have are the Liberty Bell ones, with "Forever" on the right hand side. Those are now worth $.45.
Jane (anonymous) replies…
I bought the 'garden love' forever stamps yesterday. 'Forever' is printed on them, just fyi.
thebcman (anonymous) replies…
unless you have documentation, i'm calling b.s. on your post. If the stamp says "forever" on it, it is good for first-class postage "for ever" .. doesn't matter which direction the word "forever" is printed on the stamp, as long as it's there.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT (Ronaldo Ignacio) says…
"Mail a letter with UPS or FedEx and see what they charge you" - vertigo
But mailing an non-urgent letter with UPS of FedEx is illegal.
vertigo (Jesse Crittenden) replies…
Granny urgently needs her birthday card. It's a matter of life and death.
tange (anonymous) replies…
Well, I guess you should've thought about that in December!
peachesncream (anonymous) says…
the garden love stamps are "forever" stamps, it is not limited any longer to the liberty bell stamps only ...
tange (anonymous) says…
Right after the Forever stamps became available, I purchased several books, and then promptly misplaced them. It's been years, now, since I last saw them. Good thing they last forever.
RonHolzwarth (Ron Holzwarth) replies…
Just think, by the time you find them, they'll be worth a fortune!
tange (anonymous) replies…
I'm thinkin'... retirement!
Did_I_say_that (DIST) replies…
"Just think, by the time you find them, they'll be worth a fortune!"
Or, they could be worthless .....
Will UPS or FedEx accept USPS stamps if USPS shuts down?
/s
kansanbygrace (anonymous) says…
usps, one of the best mail delivery services in the world, delivers small and light for less and faster than any of the competitors.
Another point is that every single day, a great portion of the small packages that ups, fedex, dhl handle are delivered to the USPS for postal carriers to deliver to their destination.
The private deliveries would be substantially more expensive if they didn't outsource their small package handling to USPS.
The Congressional mandate to USPS that they must fund an enormous "future benefits liability" that no other business in the world has to do busts the budget by itself. Congress is doing everything they can to kill the more effective, efficient and economical delivery option and leave us paying more for less.