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Some people say I'm wrong to critize the PO, but because they did a calculation and found out inflation rose 2.9%, they are allowed to increase postage by 1 cent (see article above]. I'm annoyed, though because my pay raises at my career job don't keep up with the pace of inflation! I'll be lucky if I see 1.75% this year! It just annoys me that "everyone else" seems to be able to adjust their rates to keep with inflation, but my employer does not feel the same obligation. I think that's wierd and I think it's also very annoying. Still, I have to keep perspective... I am more fortunate than most. I keep telling my self that both because it's true and it helps mitigate my annoyance!
OK, vent and public service announcement (the original intent of this post, lol!] is over!
Be grateful you get an inflation increase. I have to beg and plead for a raise at my job! I think they are just going to keep going up and up no matter what. It is frustrating.
If you currently have Forever stamps you will not have to add postage to it but if you buy Forever stamps after the rate increase you will pay the new price. So buy a bunch of Forever stamps before the rate increase. Make sense?
The post office is supposed to sell those stamps forever, hence the name. You probably have to ask for them. The price of the Forever stamp will always be whatever the current first rate postage is.
Oh no! I just bought a *bunch* of the Chinese New Year stamps 'coz they're so pretty. LOL I suppose if I have any leftovers after that date, I can buy 1 cent stamps. Still....it is silly to raise it a penny...why don't they save up 'til they get a nickel? :mrgreen:
I am surprised that they needed another increase so soon. Maybe it wouldn't be so annoying if they ever put out pretty stamps - they don't seem to do that anymore.
__________________ Just my two stamps worth, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* * * Sue * * * In quaint, quiet, quirky little Darmstadt
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Father says that the PO employee's pay is based on the inflation rate so if there pay goes up they have to charge us more to pay them. - the wonderful benefits of being a federal employee. :rolleyes:
I am surprised that they needed another increase so soon. Maybe it wouldn't be so annoying if they ever put out pretty stamps - they don't seem to do that anymore.
They do! You just have to ask for them. :mrgreen:
Try here The larger post offices should have a good selection of them. And you can order them online, too.
My Father says that the PO employee's pay is based on the inflation rate so if there pay goes up they have to charge us more to pay them. - the wonderful benefits of being a federal employee. :rolleyes:
Too bad my husband can't charge more per unruly child. He's a teacher. We'd be filthy rich! :mrgreen: As it is, he doesn't get pay increases anymore. He's reached the "top" of the scale and they don't give COLA raises to teachers in his school district here in California. Boo! Maybe I should get a job at the post office. Though I doubt they have part-time positions...
Some people say I'm wrong to critize the PO, but because they did a calculation and found out inflation rose 2.9%, they are allowed to increase postage by 1 cent (see article above]. I'm annoyed, though because my pay raises at my career job don't keep up with the pace of inflation! I'll be lucky if I see 1.75% this year! It just annoys me that "everyone else" seems to be able to adjust their rates to keep with inflation, but my employer does not feel the same obligation. I think that's wierd and I think it's also very annoying. Still, I have to keep perspective... I am more fortunate than most. I keep telling my self that both because it's true and it helps mitigate my annoyance!
OK, vent and public service announcement (the original intent of this post, lol!] is over!
Keep smiling!
LuckyGirl
Call me crazy but shouldn't you be criticizing your employer for not giving you fair wages, rather than the PO? :confused:
You couldn't even pay me $0.42 to walk a block to deliver a letter to someone. To have the USPS deliver a letter cross country for that price seems like a bargain to me. :-D
Yup...just be grateful you do get a raise. Nothing for my family for well over a year, and I'm sure there are others who have had no raise for much longer. It's a good thing that St. Patty's Day and Easter are before May. I don't have many 'bulk mailings' for a while after Easter. Thanks for the heads up!
My Father says that the PO employee's pay is based on the inflation rate so if there pay goes up they have to charge us more to pay them. - the wonderful benefits of being a federal employee. :rolleyes:
*giggles*
I just thought I would look up some rates and they are kinda hard to find...but I did find that in 1988 they raised the rate from 22 cents to 25 cents. So basically we are looking at one cent per year.
But this did make me giggle quoted from the article I read
"A silver lining in the rate increase would be that households would receive less unwanted bulk mail. ''The increased rates are going to force some companies to terminate entire mailing campaigns,'' I dont think that this has slowed down as much as they thought it would (quoted from a 1988 article)
__________________
Shelley
The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
Too bad my husband can't charge more per unruly child. He's a teacher. We'd be filthy rich! :mrgreen: As it is, he doesn't get pay increases anymore. He's reached the "top" of the scale and they don't give COLA raises to teachers in his school district here in California. Boo! Maybe I should get a job at the post office. Though I doubt they have part-time positions...
You might be surprised! When my normal carrier is off work we have a "sub" and she works part time ;)
__________________
Shelley
The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
i too am annoyed with postal increases. true, delivering mail across states lines for 41 cents is a great deal.
however, in light of paying bills online (which i do every month), emailing friends and family, i would like to see a comparison of pieces of mail handled in 1990 versus today. you would think that amount would be down dramatically. that would mean fewer employees would be needed to handle the volume. but we are dealing with the government here and they believe in do less and charge more.
Too bad my husband can't charge more per unruly child. He's a teacher. We'd be filthy rich! :mrgreen: As it is, he doesn't get pay increases anymore. He's reached the "top" of the scale and they don't give COLA raises to teachers in his school district here in California. Boo! Maybe I should get a job at the post office. Though I doubt they have part-time positions...
I'm a letter carrier and when you first start you are considered a part-time flexable employee. you work 10 to 12 hours a day and six to seven days a week. when you make full time you only work 40 hours a week.
i too am annoyed with postal increases. true, delivering mail across states lines for 41 cents is a great deal.
however, in light of paying bills online (which i do every month), emailing friends and family, i would like to see a comparison of pieces of mail handled in 1990 versus today. you would think that amount would be down dramatically. that would mean fewer employees would be needed to handle the volume. but we are dealing with the government here and they believe in do less and charge more.
just my opinion and my chance to vent.
Actually, I think the "do not call" list has resulted in a lot more junk mail moving through the system from people who can no longer bother you through the phone. So I'm not sure the volume of mail has decreased all that much.
Also, even if the volume of mail is down, the infrastructure to keep that mail moving smoothly cannot be downsized. Every town wants its own post office and every post office needs to be staffed for a certain number of hours. In fact, we now expect our post offices to be open longer hours.
I'm not a fan of the USPS by any means and I think some of their postage rules are downright ridiculous, but the rate for a first class postage stamp is really not that out of whack when compared with the rest of the world. It's all the surcharges for a brad or a ribbon knot or an unusual size envelope or a clear envelope, etc., etc. that I have a problem with.
... To have the USPS deliver a letter cross country for that price seems like a bargain to me. :-D
Check out the postage in other countries, and ours is a steal!
[Re-reading this, the following sounds snarky, but it is not meant to be!]
Today, it costs 34 pence to mail a domestic letter in England (GB). 1 pence = 1/100 of a Brittish pound, and 1 GBP = 1.95 USD, so 34p = 1.95 * 34 = 66.3 US cents. I'll be happy to pay 42 cents versus 41. It's all in the perspective. :mrgreen:
Under the new law, postal prices will be adjusted annually each May, the Postal Service said. Officials said they plan to give 90 days notice of future changes, twice what is required by law.
Adjustments every year? It seems too often. And if they give 90 days notice it really will be that we just get used to one change and it changes again. :( I mean I'm not sorry they will give the notice, I'm just saying it will feel like, "Didn't it just change" every time.
It's still a good deal though. They will take a letter across the country for me for 42 cents.
It's not like I'll mail less cards. I'll STILL forget the same number of birthdays I always do.
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If they are raising the rate maybe they will replace the self service stamp machines in the lobbies....According to our window clerk, they are yanking them out nationwide because it "costs too much to maintain/service them" So in this town of 35,000 I have to buy stamps at the grocery store counter(only open from 8 till 8 if the clerk that knows what to do is working) or stand in line at the PO to buy at the window.
A couple of discount stores sell them but with a surcharge for the priviledge of spending your money there.....I know you can buy them on-line but I detest putting anything on a credit card that isn't long lasting----and stamps don't last long around here LOL.........
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My dad is a rural mail carrier and their wages are based on the amount of pieces of mail they handle. They have a 2 week mail count and their wages are adjusted. Some carriers may not get an increase at all, and some will even get their wage decreased. Take into account that they buy their vehicle and pay for their gas---it is not as rosy as some think, especially with the rising price of gas! Inflation is a bummer for all!
We didn't request more post offices in our area. The POST OFFICE did. They said they couldn't handle all the mail...so another went up. When my mom first moved here more than 20 years ago, there was ONE post office that had been in place from the time the first strawberry farms & orange orchards were here...and kids went to school in the summer so they could pick berries & oranges in the winter (I'm talking pre-electricity days). When the area started to get bigger, first they adjusted the zip code & our neighborhood became a whole different city from what the post office was. When I was a child I remember the "main" branch getting put up. And then just a few years ago a secondary location was added that was sort of "in between" the "old" post office & the "new" main post office. We didn't actually ask for it.
And then this past Christmas (well, some time between last January and last Thanksgiving anyway) an automated thing was put in. They took out the one that you could actually feed money into. Now it only takes a credit/debit/atm card. And if you want to do more than one thing (like get a mailing label and a few stamps) you have to put your card in more than once.
It's getting more & more frustrating to deal with the federal government.
And as a stay-at-home mom...I have never had a raise in pay...but the amount of work I need to do becomes more & more all the time!
__________________ They say house cleaning never killed anyone, but why take the chance?
If they are raising the rate maybe they will replace the self service stamp machines in the lobbies....According to our window clerk, they are yanking them out nationwide because it "costs too much to maintain/service them" So in this town of 35,000 I have to buy stamps at the grocery store counter(only open from 8 till 8 if the clerk that knows what to do is working) or stand in line at the PO to buy at the window.
A couple of discount stores sell them but with a surcharge for the priviledge of spending your money there.....I know you can buy them on-line but I detest putting anything on a credit card that isn't long lasting----and stamps don't last long around here LOL.........
I guess I don't understand why using a credit card is a big deal but maybe because I pay mine every month in full, it is easier. I use my debit card online with no issue. I can't remember the last time I went to the post office. I have priority flat rate envies and boxes mailed to the house and you print the postage off the web.
Thanks for the warning. I'll need to count how many forever stamps I have and buy some more.
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Originally Posted by mrsjllove
Too bad my husband can't charge more per unruly child. He's a teacher. We'd be filthy rich! :mrgreen: As it is, he doesn't get pay increases anymore. He's reached the "top" of the scale and they don't give COLA raises to teachers in his school district here in California. Boo! Maybe I should get a job at the post office. Though I doubt they have part-time positions...
actually they have quite a few part time positions... at least around here... less than 39 hours a week so they don't have to pay benefits... my uncle is in that boat, has been for years... works as a state police dispatcher as well and gets his bennies through them...
My husband is out carrying mail right now, in what feels like below zero weather, in a winter storm warning--an extra penny is nothing. Especially considering how much I am willing to pay for one stamp set. With everyone (including us) paying bills on-line, email, etc., the only way the post office can keep running is to charge more for postage. Also, look how numb we all become to ever-rising gas prices, it would cost me that much in gas to drive a card 5 miles. I'm just saying.
I guess I don't think it's that big of a deal. Everything is getting more expensive, and this penny just isn't too much for me. I mailed out 75 Christmas cards last year- this year it will cost me 75 cents more to do the same. For me, it's not going to break the bank. But when I see my poor mailman have to drive his truck through this horrible weather where the city isn't even bothering to take care of the streets because they are out of salt, and having to get out at every mailbox because the snow banks are so high he can't drive close enough, I think it's worth the extra cent. Hopefully the employees will see some of the money.
I have some Forever stamps, and will buy a few more books when I go to the store- but I'm not going to stock up too much. I wish they would put them in coils of 100- that's what I used to always buy before the forever stamp came out.
Unlike the poster who wishes there were more pretty stamps, I think I'd be okay with only one variety of stamp- it seems like if there were fewer designs to print, it would cost less to manufactor them. (Then again, they wouldn't get the insane amount of money from collectors for all the first day cancellations, the sheets of new stamps etc.)
I wouldn't complain about an extra penny if they could be more consistent in their policies about what does and does not require extra postage....seems like that varies between post offices and even postal workers. Their present system is confusing for everyone.
UPS and FedEx seem to always cost more than USPS for me, so I sure hope not!
And since there already ARE private shipping companies- you DO have a choice. If you really wanted to, you can send a letter through FedEx/UPS in their envelopes- sometimes if I need tracking or overnight for very important things, I do that- but for most things it's not worth it, the 41 (or 42) cents is just cheaper!
Be grateful you get an inflation increase. I have to beg and plead for a raise at my job! I think they are just going to keep going up and up no matter what. It is frustrating.
no, that was my point. I don't get an inflation increase. but that's beside the point- and a whole other very irritating topic.
Be Prepared: US Postal Increase May 12, 2008
POst Office complaint
