Price of Snail Mail About to Rise
Starting in January, the price of stamps is going up from 52¢ to 54¢. Yeah, I still send things via snail mail. My entire family and many of my friends live out east and there are some things that you just can’t fit through the tubes of the Internet.
In preparation for the rise, I bought a whole roll of permanent stamps. Permanent stamps cost you whatever the current value of a normal stamp is when you buy them, but they become worth the current value of a stamp whenever you use them. So I bought these at 52¢ and when I use them after the end of this year, they will be worth 54¢. A roll has 100 stamps, so I paid $52, whereas this would have cost me $54 if I’d waited ’til January. I know, I’m a savings demon!
And if you think that a 2¢ increase per stamp is bad, get this: the price of mailing a large envelope is going to double!
Why the increase? According to the CBC News story I read:
The postal giant blames costly decisions by the federal government in 2006 to maintain existing levels of rural mail delivery and to continue a postal subsidy for magazines and periodicals.
It also cites soaring fuel costs.
Why it’s taken from 2006 to 2009 to make the change? No idea.
Why am I writing a blog posting about this? To give you time to go buy a roll of P stamps. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Also, when I was buying my big roll o’stamps, I noticed these:
$1 is added to the cost of this package of stamps and that money goes to mental health research and patient support. And here’s something I didn’t know: mental illness is the “cause of choice” of Canada Post. Which is pretty cool, given that mental health is such an important issue, touches so many people, and is surrounded by so much stigma. Good on ya, Canada Post.
Props to Kalev for telling me about this whole postage shakedown 2009.
Comments |4|
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I wonder if the mental health support has anything to do with the expression “Going Postal”, which came into being after a a series of mentally ill postal workers opened fire in a post offices across the US. Here is the wiki ref: http://tinyurl.com/awss3
I am a big fan of the 100 roll. And Costco sells them, too, so it’s uber convenient to buy them when I am already shopping for things in bulk. They are so handy for holiday cards (and the hordes of Thank you cards that I will soon begin writing). I still have some from last year, but I really like the colour of the flowers this year. Last year’s colour was a not-so-pretty shade of pink.
I was thinking the same thing (about “going postal”) when I saw them.
My friend Alicia is getting married next year – I should mention the cost of stamps going up to her so she can stock up before the end of the year!
And to save even more, buy that roll of stamps at Costco. $50 for 50 stamps. I don’t know how Costco can sell stamps for less than the Post Office, but they do.
Ooops, that should have read $50 for 100. Not $1 per stamp!