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[elmono311]

However this time they may be offering a "forever stamp" which means you buy it at the current rate and you can still use it even if the USPS increases the rate again. Sounds good to me. We don't mail a lot so we tend to have lots of stamps just chilling around.

LINK

[Supermercado]

Yeah, that is an idea that should have been thought of before.

[elmono311]

They seemed to have been going that direction with the last hike. The stamps don't say 39 cents, they just say First Class.

[Supermercado]

Yeah, I noticed that.

[elmono311]

Idiots. I was reading on AT that people just throw away their old stamps when there's a price hike rather than go through the trouble of buying 1 cent and 2 cent stamps. If they're just going to throw them away, why don't they just put two stamps on an envelope and at least use them? They're probably too uber elite for that, I guess

[Supermercado]

I need to get some 1 and 2 cent stamps. I've actually still got some 37 cent stamps, I think. I mail one thing per month and that's only because I've never bothered to set up the bank draft for my power bill.

[disnut8]

As elmono knows, Rich mails things all the time.  If he doesn't go to the Post Office at least once a week, I think they put up missing person fliers.  But here's a true story from my youth (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away).

My grandparents had a border named Gilbert.  I have no idea where this man came from but he was always there in my memories.  Gilbert was always one can short of a six pack.

The Post Office announced a price hike (I think to the outragous price of 10 cents from 8 cents).  The day before the increase, Gilbert took all of his milk money (that's the spare money you kept around to pay the milk man) and went up the half a block to Joe's Market.  Everyone in the neighborhood did their quick shopping at Joe's.  So Joe knew everyone.  He also sold stamps.  At the same rate as the Post Office, though.

Gilbert bought all of Joe's 8 cent stamps.

His reasoning?  He said that since he bought them at the lower price, he showed up everyone because the next day they would be using 10 cent stamps and he'd still be using 8 cent stamps.

Joe tried and tried to talk Gilbert out of it but Gilbert was insistant.  My grandparents found out about it and called my dad.  My grandparents were homebound and couldn't go out (I got alot of "tips" by running up to Joe's when they needed something).  My dad couldn't convince Gilbert that he would need not only an 8 cent stamp the next day but also a 2 cent stamp.  Hell, I was about eight years old and I couldn't convince Gilbert.

My dad went to Joe's, who of course, had plenty of two cent stamps for the next day.  Joe saw my dad coming and already had the correct number of two cent stamps to equal what Gilbert had bought.  He didn't charge for them.

Every stamp increase brings that story back to me.  I remember that day so clearly.  Gilbert shuffling back to my grandparents' with such a happy smile on his face, thinking he had outsmarted everyone.  Until he ran out of 8 cent stamps, either my sister, myself, or my dad would get Gilbert's mail before he put it out.  We told him the delivery people were only dropping off, not picking up.