The cost of stamps in the USA has gone down effective today, April 10! Letters are now 47c (vs 49c); postcards 34c (vs 35c). Folks who QSL direct might rejoice. But the USPS is not happy about it: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2016/pr16_019.htm
I've seen the price of just about everything under the sun go up and I have always been a big complainer when it happens but I've never thought that stamps were all that high anyway. How many places are willing to take something 2000 miles and just charge 50 cents. Not a bad deal really.
more, even! you can send a letter from ME to GU or AS for that same stamp ... that's a lot more than 2,000 miles!
I already have a whole buncha STAMPS!! by the time I use them up, they will have raised the rates again!
Since as stated in this release, "The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations." "The Postal Service will lose approximately $2 billion in annual revenue resulting from a price reduction mandated by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) — which will go into effect on Sunday, April 10. The PRC granted an exigent surcharge beginning in January 2014 on mailing products and services totaling $4.6 billion to recover for the massive volume and revenue losses resulting from the Great Recession. However, this amount only partially offsets Postal Service revenue losses — which the Postal Service estimates exceeded $7 billion in 2009 alone. I ask, how long can this keep up before tax Dollars are used to shore up this insolvency? P.S. The Puerto Rico bailout is next!
