Stamp prices have been on the increase since 1932. Prior to then, the only price drop in stamp history was the drop from $0.03 to $0.02 in 1883 and 1919. Since, we have seen nothing but stamp price hikes throughout history.
Argument 1:
Stamp prices have to increase for sustainability. Since the emergence of email, instant messenger, online bill pay, webcams, and those silly e-card sites, the need for a stamp to communicate to someone or pay bills has decline. Mailing can take up to 8 days. Email simplifies this into 3 minutes.
Stamps also have to increase along with inflation. Mail trucks require gas. The Postal Service systems have received quite an overhaul in the past decades that require funding as well.
Argument 2:
Stamp prices are not overly high at all. Stamps have only gone from $0.03 to $0.44 in 147 years. I don’t think any other product can beat that price increase from a consumer standpoint in this lifetime. Stamps are also collector items.
But don’t let me change your opinion. What do you think?
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I only care when I actually have to mail something and I can’t find a stamp, then I have to go buy a whole booklet and I lose the booklet. FML
Do they discount in bulk? Can I buy 1000 stamps at 0.40?
Since the Post Office hasn’t made a profit in probably 30 years…stamp prices are probably too low.
I don’t think so.
I think the price is fair considering the price of everything else in the country. Not to mention, how often do people use a single stamp to mail something. I pay my bills online, talk to all my friends and family via phone and online messaging. I even converse with my uncle in Iraq online. Anything business related that requires being mailed, will always cost more than a stamp so a stamp price is null and void in that case.
Since the USPS is just a well managed organization, I feel that the stamp prices are reasonable and fair.
Now, if we can only get these sample people to start managing healthcare….
You may think it’s well run, but it has it’s shortcomings too.
http://www.apwu.org/index2.htm
Were any of you people around when a stamp only costs .08?
Evidently not, since the vote tally shows stamp prices “just fine.” Back then, it only cost .08 to mail something, and you got exactly the same service you get today–=in fact, there were MORE people inside the post office to work with you, and NO JUNK MAIL!
Today, the post office is generating its own junk mail just to stay alive–it has sold its printing and distribution capabilities to the highest bidder.
In Italy, they don’t even have junk mail or grocery store flyers–having a sale? Just plaster up a poster in the town square, take out a TV ad, or hire a guy to scream it out over a PA system hooked up in his truck.
That sounds fucking annoying. You’d probably get shot here for doing that.
How is this relevant to your argument?
It’s called inflation and also the fact that USPS can’t make a profit due to less usage by the citizens.
And of course there were more people working in the post office…uh…maybe because more people were sending mail ya think?
The price range is fine. The awkward prices (.29, .37., .42, etc) have always baffled me.
Were you?!
Considering that the USPS is a government run program, I think $0.42 is fine. I will take that over $0.61 in Canada.