Going Postal

It has been all over the news the last few weeks that the United States Postal Service, USPS from here on out, was raising rates effective Monday, May 11, 2009. They did a nice job getting the word out on TV, radio and the Internet. I actually thought it was nice that USPS waited until after Mother's Day to raise rates. They usually raise rates this time of year and very easily could have done so on May 1st but they waited.

I happened to be out of stamps on the 11th so I took a drive to my local USPS office to stock up on the new denominations. The cost of a one ounce, first class stamp went from 42 cents to 44 cents. Still a pretty good bargain in my opinion. I can pop a letter in the mail here in Virginia and it is delivered as far away as Hawaii in two or three days for a mere 44 cents - sweet!

I went about lunchtime and the line wasn't too long and within a minute or two I was standing at the counter looking at a very nice cardboard sign displaying all the new rates. I needed 44 cent stamps and 88 cent stamps for oversized mail. (That's what she said!!!) They were both listed right on the sign as the correct postage effective that day - Monday, May 11, 2009 - but the Post Office didn't have either in stock.

Wait, What? Seems to me that the USPS has known for months that rates were going up so they should have been able to print a buttload of stamps with higher denominations for delivery to USPS locations everywhere in early May. In fact, a quick Internet search found an online newspaper story from November 2008 telling the World that Postage rates were going up in 2009. The article didn't know the new rates at the time but it shows that the USPS has been planning to raise rates for a minimum of 6 full months before it happened. That seems like plenty of time to stop printing 42 cent stamps and start printing 44 centers.

What the Post Office had instead was the Forever Stamp. They cost me 44 cents a piece but no denomination is listed on the actual stamp. So in theory you could buy a few rolls of these stamps now and use them for the rest of your life. They never expire and they will always be accepted by the Post Office. In fact, if you were smart you could have stocked up on them last year when they first came out. They only cost 41 cents then.

The other thing I needed was stamps for oversized envelopes, they are priced differently at 88 cents for the first ounce. They didn't have those either, big surprise. I settled for some 87 cent stamps. I have tons of 1 cent stamps I can use to make up the difference, no big deal. The only stamp they had in stock that I actually needed were 17 cent stamps, used for additional ounces after the first ounce. They only had these because the price stayed the same. I am sure if it had changed I would have been out of luck there too.

If this is how the USPS always acts I am now amazed that anything I put in my mailbox ever gets delivered anywhere and I certainly have a bit of an understanding for why people go postal.

Mood: Uninspired.

It's Ironic:

That Patriots Day is not listed as a holiday on my 2009 Boston Red Sox Calendar.


Failed Advertising Slogan of the Day:

"Washington Post - If you don't get it, you're retarded."