Postage Rate Increase and a ‘Forever Stamp’ Coming
“A forever stamp would help ease the transition to any future price adjustments,” said Board of Governors Chairman James C. Miller III, in a USPS press release. The Board of Governors did not suggest a price for a “forever stamp.”
Among factors justifying the proposed postage rate increase, USPS cited increasing costs for fuel and employee health care. “The Postal Service is not immune to the cost pressures affecting every household and business in America,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter, who went on to point out that First-Class postage had increased by only a penny a year during the last five years, “less than many other consumer products and services.”
In 2005, the cost of providing health insurance to the more than 621,000 current employees and 445,000 retirees of the U.S. Postal Service hit a total of $6.6 billion.
Comments
Ah, now you can buy futures not just in things that improve with age, like fine wine, but postage, too! This will, without doubt, rock the world.
james
Ok, so let me understand this correctly…..”.05″ increase in the last 5 years x the World (current) population of 6,514,646,565
x a minimum of 2 stamps per person (conservative avg) per month (24*.10) = 15,635,151,756. So tell me again what they are doing with the additional 9 billion? Making an increase one penny per year does not sound like much. This calculation was for the 5th year only. What a deal!?!
Private postage go to $.41, while some junk mail drops to 15.5 or 20 cents for presorted. Just who is subsidizing who?
Perhaps it’s time to start charging full/higher rates for junk, and as it’s volume falls, attrition will lower the size of the PS…