Comments on: Postal Prices on the Rise Today

By: kevin

kevin — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:46:39 +0000

I don’t think that any one is going to stock up on stamps as an investment. There is no way that the stamp price will rise faster than even a 4% CD would.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:41:57 +0000

I agreed with Charles Wheelan’s article (see Yahoo! finance) on privatizing the postal system. Ironically, he also wrote previously about the government further subsidizing healthcare.

Sure, those of us living in small towns would have to pay more for mail service. Some locations may not even be economically viable. But I’m willing to take the hit if it means a little less government waste, and lower taxes.

We might even have to re-write the constitution–I believe there is an establishment clause of the postal service in there somewhere. But times have changed, and we need to question whether the founding fathers would have even established a Federally-supported postal service given today’s easy access to electronic communications.

By: Statastico

Statastico — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:33:50 +0000

I don’t see any reason why a rational individual would stock up on forever stamps in the near future. However, when the USPS announces the next price hike for the forever stamp, there might be a stampede of speculators the day before the price hike goes into effect.

By: Q at $1 Million to My Name

Q at $1 Million to My Name — Mon, 14 May 2007 17:56:55 +0000

A 5% increase in any expense, whether it be something as big as your real estate taxes or as small as your postage stamps, is a big deal.

Looks like less handwritten invitations and more eVites!

By: tim

tim — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:50:27 +0000

I see it as a ploy to generate short term revenue. Even though the forever stamp is supposedly good on “First-Class letters”, even on the initial release the definition of what qualifies has narrowed (thickness, machineablilty). Five years from now they can easily change what qualifies…