Going Postal
Just one year after last May’s stamp hike from .39 cents to .41 cents, rates are rising yet again. On Monday the price to mail a first-class letter be .42 and that roll of stamps you bought at the Post Office just last week will need .01 cent orphans in order to get mailed. Learning about this latest rate hike has really angered me, especially considering the current anemic state of the United States Economy. With the average cost of a gallon of gas approaching $4.00 a gallon, food prices that are skyrocketing and an ever weakening dollar, the last thing we need is to spend even more money to mail our bills and send our Father’s Day cards.
Of course, you could have purchased the Post Office’s “Forever Stamps” last week instead of the traditional .41 cent fare (I’ll never buy normal stamps again), but this still seems like a perfect occasion for “smart government” to step in and wave the rate increase for the good of average citizens. I realize that the increasing cost of fuel hits the Post Office just like average Joes, but I still think they could take one for the team. The only part of this equation that gives me any comfort is that I’ve made the shift to paying almost all my bills electronically in recent months. The only businesses that still get a paper check from me are local ones where paying online just isn’t an option. Eventually physical pieces of mail will become so expensive that it just won’t be practical anymore, but until then, I guess I’ll be visiting the Post Office on Monday to pick up a sheet of .01 cent stamps. Again. Ugh.
while I think the gas argument is a valid one I would be interested to know how Manu out there have actually seen their works gas reimbustment go up. Also I would think that the united states postal service would be an ideal case study for alternative methods of transportation making the gas argument all but moot. I know that in New Hampshire some mail careers have been using segways instead of/in combination with their trucks. If this were to be wide spread and the post office chose to invest in smart cars etc. We wouldn’t be talking about this right now. Or would we? This rambling train of thought was brought to you by the iPod touch.
The hubby bought some of those “special” stamps last week- I can’t believe the cost of a stamp went up again already! As THE bean counter (network admin & recording engineer, among other things ♨) in our marriage, I have been paying ALL of our bills (except the ones where I can walk to the office and hand them cash) online for a couple years. Here in Marin County, CA the price of gas has been $4 for weeks.
I am just so grateful that my YEARS doing mail art for my mailing list of 400+ people in the 80’s gave way to being art web mistress code queen guru supreme in the new millennium.
Server space costs less per year than US Postage! Plus people whose addresses don’t exist on a 4×6 index card in my mailing list’s boxes get see my art. Surfing in from someplace exotic out of the blue- not because they know me, or someone I know, or have seen a book my work is in. Pure Magic!
On the flip side though, I wonder when the time will come when they’ll ask me for my ID-because I’m paying a bill or groceries with CASH…
That thought was in my mind when I made a set of groovy Gold Ingot icons last year. Gold is always worth something, everywhere. Ha! HA~