Realcent.org

A cool site with united states stamps here.... https://colnect.com/en/stamps/years/cou ... of_America

The USPS has come out with some great-looking postage stamps this year. Kudos to them.

For many reasons (including COVID-19) I just have a gnawing feeling that there's going to be a strong move toward a postal rate hike to $0.60 for a first class letter. (I guess that's all the more reason to buy Forever Stamps at the current rate to save a nickel here and there.) We'll see what happens in the last 3 months of 2020, but my money is on the rate hike.

You can say you heard it first here.

Recently went up to 58 cents each. 60 is next - next year.

Interesting that the USPS has already scattered the seeds of higher postal rates beginning in about one month. Take a look (a good look, that is) at the proposed jump in fees for just about every class of mail and service they provide. Two cents per First Class Mail piece is just the beginning as the big-time fleecing of the public. We're talking some high pricing jumps in all classes of mail, Folks! The USPS has now been given the blessing to raise rates and service costs 2 times per year!

Just for good measure, toss in higher fuel prices for the break-down prone mail trucks, difficulty in obtaining spare truck parts, higher wages and benefits for postal workers, etc., repairs for the crumbling post office infrastructure across the country and things we haven't even thought about YET.

Single piece mailing (letters to Grandma, get-well cards, etc.) are (and have been) loss leaders for a long time. Why do you think that postage stamps (available for usually 50% of face) sell well at stamp shows? Doesn't matter to me that I have to use a glue stick (Elmer's is the best) for the envelope and the stamps. That adds only an extra minute or two to the mailing process.

(My current favorite is using 12 four-cent stamps plus one 10 cent stamp. It fits pretty well when you use a business-size envelope.)

Very interesting stamp info site. Thanks for the link.

Silver4face wrote:Recently went up to 58 cents each. 60 is next - next year.

First class stamps are going up to 68 cents on January 21st. Someday, they might be a buck apiece. Buy stamps NOW!!

I just don't know how those in charge of the USPS are able to concoct an accurate rate for the accounting, sale, collection, processing, delivery. etc., for their many services. I'd love to see the (magic) formula that could be right (or even explainable to some degree) more often than not. Just don't think there's a reasonable answer.