WTF stamps cost 39 cents now?

[swanny]

I mailed out a bill the other day and I just got it back saying I owe a whopping .02. I had no clue. I guess it started January 8th

 

[reckedracing]

lol, where have you been...

 

[hosmer]

yes

 

[posol]

yep.

gas prices go up. mail costs go up.
less letters get sent daily now due to online bill-pay and email, so the cost per letter delivered increases.

I'm guessing USPS mail will be a thing of the past in our lifetimes. only the package mailers like ups, fedex and dhl will be around to deliver stuff ordered online.

 

[ilikepie]

Pretty soon it will all be online and the usps will go out of businness

 

[reckedracing]

i doubt it

USPS is backed the the federal gov't, subsidized even...

i think USPS offers pretty cheap shipping, as compared to ups and fedex or dhl...
and they are helpful to people without corp accounts, or people that aren;t near a ups store...

i doubt the fed gov't is going to give up its emergency backup for of communication and shipping...

 

[posol]

you don't need a ups store.

yuo can create a packing slip online and schedule a pickup for a ups truck to come to your house.

 

[reckedracing]

doesn't ups charge a 10-15 pickup fee?
or is that fedex?

 

[TurboMirage]

usps > all. sorry.

 

[micah]

usps will pick up shit from your house also

 

[JDMPlaya]

I don't get why the government did this..

"Hmm... people aren't sending letters through the U.S Mail as much as they used to, so let's raise the price and hope more people send mail"

I know I'm sure that wasn't their tactic, with people sending millions of emails per week rather then letters in the us mail, they are losing money..

 

[E_SolSi]

its this little thing called INFLATION

we readily accept the fact that the price on shit will go up
but the price of a stamp goes up $.02 and people flip the fuck out

i use maybe 3 stamps per month... that means my cost is going up 6 cents per month and 72 cents per year
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!
im not going to be able to afford to live

 

[GSRCRXsi]

lmao E. but so true

 

[Battle Pope]

Might have to go without one of those packs of gum that you need to survive.

My complaint is, I deal with the USPS every day prettty much. Sometimes it can take a day for something to go across town. Other times it will take 4.

I don't understand or appreciate the lack of consistency and abysmal level of performance.

 

[JDMPlaya]

Quoted post[/post]]
its this little thing called INFLATION

we readily accept the fact that the price on shit will go up
but the price of a stamp goes up $.02 and people flip the fuck out

i use maybe 3 stamps per month... that means my cost is going up 6 cents per month and 72 cents per year
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!!
im not going to be able to afford to live

I agree.. I'm not bitching I was just saying.. The last time i used a stamp was a few months ago..

All my transactions are usually took care of online.

 

[posol]

i used to have all my shit online.
last week i wrote out 13 checks damn slacker ass companies who either A- charge you for online bill pay or simply don't have it.

 

[reckedracing]

13 checks???
holy shit

i write one check for my 4 wheeler loan...

the rest is all online, even my cable and electric have switched to online

and paying more for an online bill is fucking retarded...

now places are starting to charge you if you insist on a paper copy...

holy shit, so i figured the USPS was a federal agency and as such was subsidized by the gov't and was actually run at a loss, but a little searching revealed the following, shocking to me...

Actually, USPS has posted more than $5 billion in profits since 1995

Postage increase follows $1.4 billion USPS profit in 2005

and the really interesting thing...

Partially to blame, according to USPS chief financial officer Richard Strasser, Jr., are the escalating costs of retirement and health benefits, most of which are legislatively mandated.

Almost 8 cents of every 39-cent stamp will pay for retirement and health benefits for Postal Service employees, according to the annual report.

and a little more info

But one particular piece of legislation, Public Law 108-18, requires the Postal Service to pick up the tab for military pensions of postal retirees, according to legislative analysis.

In a recent article, Donna Hanbery, executive director of the Saturation Mailers Coalition, argued that PL 108-18 is tantamount to a stamp tax, and not a little one either.

Because the USPS is required to grant hiring preference points to job applicants with military service credits, it employs an unusually high percentage of former military personnel, shifting “a significant portion of federal obligations and debt to postal ratepayers,” Hanbery wrote.

http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagena..._Postal_Service
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDispl...?ArticleID=7134

 

[posol]

yup.

• car payament (they have option online, but i don't like the interface and it never works in firefox, and no personal data of mine is getting passed with IE... so i use checks)
• Mortage
• HOA
• Power
• Cable
• Dues for my pool league club (french social club is my "home" team base, so i have to be a member of the club. )
• car taxes

thats 7... i'm sure theres more but i dont remember off the top of my head what they were...

my phone and credit card i pay online...

 

[jeffie7]

My water bill is like 10 bucks. however if I pay it online its an extra 3 dollar or so charge... bastards.

 

[jamesA]

Quoted post[/post]]
yup.

• car payament (they have option online, but i don't like the interface and it never works in firefox, and no personal data of mine is getting passed with IE... so i use checks)
• Mortage
• HOA
• Power
• Cable
• Dues for my pool league club (french social club is my "home" team base, so i have to be a member of the club. )
• car taxes

thats 7... i'm sure theres more but i dont remember off the top of my head what they were...

my phone and credit card i pay online...

Looks a lot like my old list of bills.

car payment
car insurance
electricity
rent
cable
cell phone
credit card 1
credit card 2
computer payment

Sucks, doesn't it?

I'm like Swanny... only I heard it was going up, but didn't put two and two together until I tried to send something yesterday and my office manager told me again that they raised rates by two cents. I'm sure I'll get the bill I sent out friday back here soon. haha