The Price of Postage

[Walden]

In another thread it was mentioned that a 1st class letter stamp now costs 37 US cents. Made me think, "is that right?"

Of course it's right, the daffodil stamp on this letter from my great grandmother says USA 37

I decided to run a poll.

[avanutria]

The earliest postage rate I remember is 25 cents. Of course, now if I want to send a letter to the states I have to pay about $1.30...

[ChrisA]

In another thread it was mentioned that a 1st class letter stamp now costs 37 US cents. Made me think, "is that right?"

Of course it's right, the daffodil stamp on this letter from my great grandmother says USA 37

I decided to run a poll.

They're petitioning to be able to raise the rates again. By a penny, I believe. I'd rather they
just raised it to 40 cents, or even 50 cents, so that it could stay the same rate for a decade
or two. I hate having old stamps that can't be used to mail anything (well, you can buy the
small value stamps, actually, but by the time you get around to that you've lost the old rate
stamps in the back of the drawer, see... )

I've actually taken to using my ancient 32 and 33 cent stamps in pairs and just ignoring the lost
value. Better to use them at a loss than to have them sit around forever.

[Redwolf]

I wish postage rates didn't have to keep going up, but with everything else rising astronomically (I didn't really feel the pain of the rise in gas prices until I bought groceries last week and paid half again as much as I usually do for a two-week period...ouch!), I don't see how they can afford to keep them as low as they have.

Redwolf

[Darwin]

I still can't get over candy bars and cokes not being a nickel, paperback books and hamburgers a quarter, and bluejeans and tennis shoes $2.95.

Of course, my first Army paycheck was $75...

[emmline]

My earliest memory of postage is when it went from 11 to 13 cents.
But I remember 5 cent lifesavers, and 4 cents for school lunch milk.

[jen f]

Twenty cents is the first I remember, back in the early 80s I think.

I have learned to buy books of stamps, rather than rolls, because we just don't go through them fast enough in our household before the rates go up. Avoids having to go to the post office and say, "I need 72 one-cent stamps, please..."

[Charlene]

I remember 5 cent stamps, 2 cents for school milk, 25 cents a gallon for gas. My 1967 paperback copy of Gone With the Wind, 862 pages, has a cover price of $1.25. Movies on the Air Force base were 25 cents for kids and 50 cents for adults. I think we paid $3 or $4 in Detroit to see Mary Poppins at an off-base theater. I know the first live concert I went to (in 1970) was $4 for the mid-price seats. Comic books were 12 cents, then 15, then went way up to 25 cents.

[cowtime]

I was the one (to date) vote as a person who works for the post office.

I do remember rates much less, but when I went to work for them in 1987 postage was .25 for first class. Much easier to make change for folks who leave money with unstamped letters in the rural boxes on my route. It's a real pain to have to re-memorize how much 4,5,6 etc. letters are in order to leave their change. The worst was a few years ago when they raised rates several times within a year. Right now I can tell you off the top of my head that 5 letters are $1.85, 3 are $1.11,etc.

I hate having to learn new totals, or drag out the little calculator. That's why I hate rate hikes.

I did see in a recent postal publication that postage today (with inflation taken into consideration) is about .07 for one ounce first class.

I do know that they claim we have one of the cheapest postal rates worldwide for regular first class mail. After all , I can mail a letter clear across the country from VA to CA pretty durn cheap.

[susnfx]

Okay, does this make me the oldest one here - or just the one with the best memory: I spent my senior year in high school writing daily love drivel to my college boyfriend and mailing the letters with 3 or 4 cent stamps.

Susan

[cowtime]

That would make it at least 1960 or later?

[Flyingcursor]

I vaguely remamber 3 cent postage stamps.

Why I remember the old days when you could start a pot. 5 cent would buy the black-eyed peas and a dime would buy the hock.

(obscure blues reference)