Post Office Wants To Raise Postage Again

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

From the article below:

"WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service is hoping it can soon raise stamp prices by a penny or more.

The postal service on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss of $562 million, despite growth in package delivery, due to continued erosion in the use of first-class mail as well as expensive mandates for its retiree health care obligations. It also attributed losses to a forced reduction in stamp prices last year."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/10/postal-service-citing-losses-seeks-higher-stamp-prices.html

tansy · ‎01-02-2011

Maybe the Forever stamps were a bad idea for the USPO.

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

@tansy wrote:
Maybe the Forever stamps were a bad idea for the USPO.

@tansy I don't know. People didn't like the inconvenience of having to buy those "make-up" stamps for one or two cents after each [frequent] increase. I don't think the average person has a lifetime supply of forever stamps so I don't think the P O has really lost much on those. People will buy new forever stamps at the new price because they don't have a huge stash of previous forever stamps.

They should re-name those stamps as "Forever Or Whenever The Post Office Goes Out Of Business Whichever Occurs First Stamps." LOL!

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

Oh, no. I sure hope they also don't discontinue Saturday service as a cost cutting measure. The Canadian Post Office stopped delivering on Saturdays years and years ago.

Weekend delivery is fun!

Q4u · ‎03-17-2010

Holy Moley.... they raised rates in Jan 2017, they raised them in Jan 2016 and the year before that! It's now more cost effective to send a package Priority than Parcel Post (because Priority includes some insurance)....!

I sell on eBay and it's awful because everyone wants free shipping and thinks whatever you charge is too much even if you pick up half the shippling costs. But to a small seller like myself who may buy a decent 2nd hand handbag for $3, sell it for $14 and then pay $7.55 for postage... add in the tissue, bubble wrap and tape you use you can see where a profit of $3.45 is awfully hard!

And yes, I know to "build in" the cost of the postage in my asking price.... but a funny thing happens then..... no one buys it...

With all the business the PO has, they shouldn't be losing money, even with the Flat rate boxes and Forever stamps. They'll be pricing themselves totally out of the market because people will just stop mailing packages and people like me will have to find other things to do....

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*

KatieB · ‎03-10-2010

It probably is due to the forever stamps and the fact that a large number of people do not pay their bill by post nowadays. I still pay my bills by post because I'm afraid to have all my banking info on my PC. I have antivirus software, but I try to take all precautions I can. My Visa card has been used fraudulently 3 times in the past year....

ms traditional · ‎03-09-2010

it's fine with me - when i compare the service i get from the PO here in Los Angeles to Fedex Smartpost (pony express apparently) and UPS Mail Innovations which seems to involve 2 days to hand off a package, i vote for the PO. the reality is we aren't paying what it costs to deliver the mail including their employment/pension costs. that's the reality.

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

@Q4u wrote:
Holy Moley.... they raised rates in Jan 2017, they raised them in Jan 2016 and the year before that! It's now more cost effective to send a package Priority than Parcel Post (because Priority includes some insurance)....!

I sell on eBay and it's awful because everyone wants free shipping and thinks whatever you charge is too much even if you pick up half the shippling costs. But to a small seller like myself who may buy a decent 2nd hand handbag for $3, sell it for $14 and then pay $7.55 for postage... add in the tissue, bubble wrap and tape you use you can see where a profit of $3.45 is awfully hard!

And yes, I know to "build in" the cost of the postage in my asking price.... but a funny thing happens then..... no one buys it...

With all the business the PO has, they shouldn't be losing money, even with the Flat rate boxes and Forever stamps. They'll be pricing themselves totally out of the market because people will just stop mailing packages and people like me will have to find other things to do....

@Q4u First class postage dropped for a while in 2016 - I think from April which only lasted to January of 2017 Remember, the federal law that gave them their previous increase stated that there was to be a rollback because that increase was supposed to be temporary. So there was a rollback from 49 cents for a first class stamp to 47 cents which only lasted for less than a year. Figures.

I see what you are saying about Ebay, because I sell occasionally. And then there are the Paypal and Ebay fees to pay. Plenty of sellers still charge shipping fees though, whether people want free shipping or not.

GSPgirl · ‎01-03-2012

Every time I go to my post office there is a sign that says: that get no federal funding. Why is it still calls the US post office? In London years ago I received two mail deliveries per day. That was overkill.