Saving on the Price of stamps
By slickcut
@slickcut (8141)
United States
March 21, 2008 4:16pm CST
As most of you know the price of stamps are going up May 1st...Just another way to get rid of our money....Anyway yesterday i needed stamps so i went to the Post office and ask the lady when stamps were going up,and she told me,so i said well i need stamps but now that they are going up what should i do with the left over stamps when they went up in May???? She told me that they have what they call "forever stamps" I ask her what they cost,she told me they cost the same as they are now,but if i will buy "forever stamps" that i could use them regardless of how high the stamps went up..I was shocked because i did not know this,she told me that "forever stamps "would be here for awhile and we could buy as many as we wanted for the price stamps are now,and it did not matter if stamps went up a dollar,"forever stamps" would cover any letter regardless of the price hike...So i bought as many as i could afford..Have you ever heard of "forever stamps"? Are you planning on buying any????
1 person likes this
12 responses
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
22 Mar 08
Well, yeah, but no. I send letters to my grand daughter every other week when she is not with me and I like to get hte disney theme stamps for her. I only have about 10 letters I mail, everything else is online. I am not that much in debt to make alot of payments so what's an extra 2¢. I will probably go online with a few more this year (I am GRADUALLY moving into the 21st century!) so a few pennies aren't going to make me or break me. But dishingo ut $30 now for something that will take a year or more to use, just not on my prioity list right now.
2 people like this
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
22 Mar 08
I recently went to the post office to get some Forever Stamps and they said they were out of them. Ha I don't believe it, so she sold me the regular 41 cents stamps so I also had to get some penny stamps so I can complete the 42 cents which starts on May 12, 2008. If that worker told you May 1st, she was wrong. I can't believe when I went to the USPS website to order stamps online to have them mailed they charge for mailing. I refuse to pay a mailing charge to the post office when this is their business - to send me mail.
1 person likes this
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I know what you mean Howard....This girl was new at the Post office,she just started but she was really nice and friendly,better than any of the regulars..I live in a small town and everyone knows everybody..If it had not been for her telling me about "Forever stamps"I would have never known...These people that are regulars never smile,muchless give out any info....
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
22 Mar 08
Forever stamps came out last year with the rate hike. We use maybe 4 stamps a year LOL So our 3 books will last a while.
1 person likes this
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I remember when they came out before the last postage increase. I haven't bought any myself. I hardly ever write letters or send cards, even at Christmas, and all my bills are auto-draft or I pay them online.
I use stamps so rarely that I think I still have a few 37cent stamps laying around (along with several 1-cent stamps).
1 person likes this
@owatagoosiam (751)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I thought Forever Stamps cost a little more than regular stamps. Otherwise, why would one ever by regular stamps. I'll have to look into this.
1 person likes this
@slickcut (8141)
• United States
22 Mar 08
No they cost the same,because i ask...The reason is because they do not have these stamps all the time according to what this girl told me..If you buy them after the price of stamps go up, then maybe they will be a little higher..This is the first year i have ever heard of them....
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I just heard about them too - and if you do alot of mailing they are fine. But since many do online payments now it is not much a saver thing to bother all over a cent or two as the price increases. I had heard on a yahoo news article when I found out about the incrase due this May that they are increases (forgte the amount but like a cent or 2) every year for the next two years. But again, to go buy 100 of them now and pay 41¢ so you can use them after May when it goes to 42 cents and next year at 43 cents - what's the point? I am all for saving the pennies, but no more than I use them, I'd rather put the $41 to a better use. Now, if they had done this years ago (maybe the freedom stamp has been around that long...they just haven't told us about them!) and you bought 100 for 39 cents and now they are still valid when postage is 41 cents, you'd saved some, but really it isn't worth bothering with unless you do tons of mailing. Just a way for USPS to gem ore money since online payments have taken some of their "customers". But raising prices sure isn't going to bring them back! maybe shorter lines and faster service at the offices might help!
@travibabiesgirl (1690)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I would think that is part of the reason stamps keep going up. With shipping cost increasing and peoples usage decreasing they are having to raise the stamp price to cover those cost and lack of income.
1 person likes this
@brimia (6581)
• United States
24 Mar 08
Wow, I'd never heard of "forever stamps"...sound good to me.
I wish I didn't have to use stamps at all...I really don't use that many anymore except for Christmas cards and a few sporadic items (like taxes). Every once in a while I sell stuff on ebay and those shipping costs are pretty pricey.
@happythoughts (4109)
• United States
25 Mar 08
I am still using stamps from my wedding 8 years ago. They were $.33 then and I just keep adding one cent stamps to them. I dont mail a lot of things but when I do my hubby gets so embarrased. He hasnt quite empraced a frugal like like I have but its okay beacuse I control the check book.
I guess I should go get a few "Forever Stamps" for the times that a huge line of stamps wont do.
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
22 Mar 08
I have heard about these, but I haven't bought any. However, if stamp prices are going up then I guess I will be buying some. I hate the fact that postage is rising so much as it makes shipping costs rise too. I hate that!!
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
22 Mar 08
Yes, I've heard of them. In fact, I need to stock up on some.
I was using stamps.com because I did a lot of mailing with eBay and such, but I'm not using it for anything but regular stamps now, so it's not worth the $15 month to keep the account.
I haven't bought regular stamps in several years, but I'll need to get some now for the few bills and such that I need to mail. I'll get some of the 'forever stamps' for sure.
@wildcat180 (169)
• United States
22 Mar 08
Oh the post office would love to have you believe that online billing and bill pay and email are killing them, but that's not true in the least bit.
If anything, thanks to websites like ebay, the internet has been helpful to them! Think of their shipping rates...THAT'S where they're making their money.
The rate hikes, unfortunately, are more a reflection of today's cost of living. Just as everything else is becoming more expensive, so too, is postage.
Buy the forever stamps if you do a lot of mailing. For me? I rarely need to mail anything that isn't already postage paid, like Netflix, so I'm not worried about it. All the past rate hikes have done is made me find other ways to pay my bills...online or over the phone.
1 person likes this
@travibabiesgirl (1690)
• United States
21 Mar 08
I bought a roll of 100 at sams club about a month ago. I don't use that many stamps and have a few left from the last book I bought. I really should buy another roll though to have years from now. I pay bills online which saves me from having to use stamps. Once in a great while I will have to use one though. I look at buying the rolls as a future investment.
1 person likes this
