Postal Rates Rising Again

[Podunkadunk]

Time to stock up on the "Forever Stamps" if you send a lot of snail-mail.

Stamp prices to go up 2-cents in May

Podunk

 

[froggy]

Yeah, and I just bought 100 stamps.

 

[jinjimbob]

I wish they'd just charge everyone the same rate, especially junk mailers.

 

[RollingsFarms]

and the USPS wonders why theyre going broke....

 

[kenmac]

That's why I pay alot of my bills on line. I purchase very few envlopes or stamps anymore

 

[Bird]

Aaahh, the old memories. I was a postal clerk in Dallas for 5 years and was working a window selling stamps and such when the price of first class stamps went from 4 cents to 5 cents. Trains, busses, and trucks hauled that mail; airmail stamps cost way too much at 7 cents, and if you had something that was really urgent, Special Delivery was 30 cents. And of course, the Post Office handled all the parcels, too, since UPS, FedEx, and DHL didn't exist. And yep, people complained about the high price of stamps back then, too. Of course, with no Internet, more people wrote letters and sent postcards; yep, lots of folks complained about having to pay 2 cents for a "penny postcard". And my starting salary as a parttime letter carrier was $1.84 an hour. But by the time I started full time as a clerk, it was up to $2.00 an hour.

But as many others do now, nearly all my business is conducted via the Internet. I've written one check so far this year (to buy a car) and 2 checks last year, but none of them were mailed. Stamps are only for my wife to send greeting cards; i.e., Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines, etc.

 

[groundcover]

Looks like they will be closing for one day a week as well,sounded like it might be Tuesday. Would be nice if they just raised the junk mail rate,wouldn't seem so bad if getting it ment it was keeping costs down.

 

[Willl]

Stamp prices to go up 2-cents in May[/URL]

It's still a bargain.

 

[Bird]

Looks like they will be closing for one day a week as well,sounded like it might be Tuesday. Would be nice if they just raised the junk mail rate,wouldn't seem so bad if getting it ment it was keeping costs down.

Fifty years ago, when I worked for the Post Office, even the employees thought they ought to charge more for the junk mail. And back then, mail was delivered to downtown offices (businesses) twice a day instead of once a day. But I've long been surprised that they still deliver on Saturdays. However, as you said, if they cut out one day a week, Saturday isn't the day they're considering.

Of course there'll always be some who don't want to see a change; just as it's been with the garbage collection. Lots of places that had garbage pickup twice a week have changed to once a week and many are unhappy about it. We've lived where it was twice a week and now where it's once a week, and once a week is just fine with us, just as mail delivery once a week would be OK with me. I can understand businesses needing delivery more often, but not residences.

 

[mjarrels]

For you pay online folks... buyer be ware! Drain your accounts dry! And no reprecussions!

mark

 

[SEMI-RETIRED]

It's still a bargain.

Well lets see now,,my directv bill just went up 3.00..
The newspaper just went up .25..
And on and on......2 cents for a letter, what a bargain..

When i got out of the service in 1959, a coke was a nickel,
a stamp was a nickel and a candy bar was a nickel..what
are they now compared to the price of a stamp ???

Funny how people will complain about .2 cent inc in a stamp and
go out and wast money on lottery tickets, 5.00 for a pack of cigs,
6 bucks for a 6 pck etc...

Oh well just my 2 cents worth lol..

Bob..

 

[DieselPower]

I would have to agree it's still a bargin, even if they raise it 10 cents. If you consider all the man power and transportation that is involved in moving one letter across the country or even the world it's a wonder the USPS isn't bankrupt already.

 

[CurlyDave]

...just as it's been with the garbage collection. Lots of places that had garbage pickup twice a week have changed to once a week and many are unhappy about it...

Ah, an issue near and dear to my heart.

We have collection only once per week. Ordinarily this would not be an issue, but I have been finding nice, fresh bear poop less than 200 yards from the house.

No real problems yet, but the most surefire way I can think of to create a problem bear is to teach him that there is food in the garbage can. The can is at the end of the paved road about 1/4 mile from the house, and so far we have been OK with storing the garbage in the garage and taking it down to the can late wednesday nite for the 4 AM pickup Thursday.

If I have something particularly stinky, I smuggle it into one of the cans in the WalMart parking lot in town. I feel like a criminal doing that, but they don't have bears and I do.

 

[groundcover]

Man a guy with a backhoe worried about garbage,go figure!

 

[Bird]

If I have something particularly stinky, I smuggle it into one of the cans in the WalMart parking lot in town. I feel like a criminal doing that, but they don't have bears and I do.

I can certainly understand why you do that, and since you said you feel like a criminal, I assume you know that you may be arrested if you're caught.

And a 4 a.m. pickup is not unusual in commercial/business/industrial areas, but fortunately not too common in residential areas. Our instructions are to have the garbage set out "by 7 a.m." since no specific time is guaranteed for pickup, but the fact is that our garbage pickup has always been between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. each Monday. The only time the truck has come around in the morning was the year Christmas fell on a Monday and that morning the garbage truck went by about 8 a.m. Hardly anyone had anything set out so he wasn't doing much stopping.

 

[Willl]

but they don't have bears and I do.

How far out in the dingle weeds do you live ?

 

[CurlyDave]

How far out in the dingle weeds do you live ?

Not that far out. It is about 2 miles to the nearest big grocery store, 2.5 to the hospital, There is a traffic light in front of the grocery store, that is the closest one. Maybe another 1.5 to 2 miles into town, but businesses all along the highway. OTOH, going away from town it gets pretty open.

I have 40 acres at the base & 1/2 way up a small mountain. The property backs up to several square miles of BLM land on top of the mountain.

I have not seen a bear, just nice fresh (liquid inside, maybe 1/8" crust) poop.

I have seen, and shot at, a cougar. Don't know if I hit it, it was getting dark and it ran off. No blood or hair the next day, but a couple of days later a wounded one died on someone's property nearby. It was definitely stalking me and the dogs. I don't feel real good about only wounding it, but better him than me.