Postal Rates to Rise; Time to Invest in Forever Stamps?
Postal rates are going up again, the U.S. Postal Service said today. After losing $3.8 billion last year (and heading towards almost double those losses this year), the mailing agency said it needs to hike prices for stamps for consumers and for big bulk mailings by nonprofits and commercial customers, too. First class stamps, which have cost 44 cents since May 11, 2009, would increase 2 cents to 46 cents, while periodicals would see an 8 percent increase in mailing costs and catalogs a 5.1 percent increase. The USPS also wants to end Saturday delivery. These proposed changes will need to be approved by the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission.
Postmaster General John E. Potter has said the proposed increase would not go into effect until 2011. There's no time like the present to get ready, though. Here are some tips:
- Go long on forever stamps. They are the ones that you can use "forever" despite rate increases, but they will also go up in price when first class stamps go up in price. So load up on your forever stamps now and don't worry about next year's rate increase. Don't go overboard, though. You're not going to get rich by trading stamps at a 2-cent profit. But if you buy yourself a year's worth, you won't have to worry about getting those annoying fill-in stamps once the rate increase takes hold. And you'll save a little money.
- Pay your bills online. Most banks still offer free online bill paying and once you've got it set up it is easy, fast, and relatively fool-proof. Your bank statement showing the bills paid is as good as a canceled check. You'll save time and money on stamps, and cut down on the number of checks you have to write. You'll also reduce the risk of making a late payment, and you know how costly the penalties for that can be.
- Expect an onslaught of "green" pitches. It's likely that your bank, credit card, and utility companies will become more frenetic than ever in their entreaties that you go paperless to "help the environment." Riiiiight. They really mean that you should give up bills and paper statements so they can save mailing costs. There's scant evidence they are cutting back on direct mail solicitations for the sake of good old Mother Earth. Decide whether to go along with this on a case-by-case basis, and be selfish. Do you really want your bills emailed to you? What if you change your email address or overlook a bill on a busy email day? If you're already downloading your bank statement directly into Quicken or another financial recordkeeping system, you may be ready to forego the paper statements. But remember that you'll need proof of payments to substantiate tax deductions, and that would require surfing to your bank's web site, finding the statement, downloading it, printing it out, and filing it with your tax information. That's a lot of work for you, just so you can save your bank a few cents at the post office.
- Opt out. If you really want to go green, opt out of receiving junk mail instead of important financial statements.
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