Look, it's another USPS rate hike, up to $0.46 for stamps.

shrike4242

shrike4242

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The USPS is talking about another rate hike, stamps making the jump from $0.44 to $0.46. Looks like it should take effect on 01/02/11.

Article detailing the news:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...ce-seeks-2-cent-rise-in-first-class-mail.html

Supposedly, packages under 1lb in weight will see a 23% increase in shipping costs, which I know will get any CAGs that ship 1-2 games, which will normally be under first class weight limits of 13 ounces.
 
[quote name='hufferstl']It's still a bargain. Anywhere in the country for less than the price of a can of soda.[/QUOTE]

Let me see your shirt! Let me see it!

If we apply heat to his shirt and it tries to get away, then we'll know he works for a postal office, just like in the movie The Thing.

This probably won't be too much of a problem for people who only ship a few things out a month but it can really hurt smaller stores.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Just raise it to 50 cents and get it the fuck over with. I'm sick of having my stamps be obsolete within months.[/QUOTE]
Just buy penny stamps?
 
Even though it's slowly becoming more and more expensive, it's still hell of a lot cheaper than UPS/FedEX/DHL. I guess they're trying to soften the blow by inducing minor rate hikes but it's getting kinda annoying.
 
For some reason, I seem to recall the postal service locking the rate increase to be no greater than inflation at the same time that they introduced the "Forever" stamps.
 
I knew I should have hoarded more of those "Forever" stamps when they came out, then I could have had the last laugh at all these rate increases... :p
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Just raise it to 50 cents and get it the fuck over with. I'm sick of having my stamps be obsolete within months.[/QUOTE]
"Forever" stamps FTW.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']"Forever" stamps FTW.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, I think almost all my stamps are forever stamps now. Except we still have a bunch of 2 cent stamps because of the fucking rate increases way back then that serve no purpose now.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Indeed, I think almost all my stamps are forever stamps now. Except we still have a bunch of 2 cent stamps because of the fucking rate increases way back then that serve no purpose now.[/QUOTE]
Enough to mail a letter at the current or proposed future rate? If so, mail someone a letter with all $.02 stamps on it to make the correct postage.;)
 
Forever stamps have the worst design. I prefer my Marvel/Star Wars stamps with 3-6 penny stamps surrounding them.

The 23% increase is what worries me more than the 2cent stamp increase.
 
I am so fucking sick of listening to people complain about the PO. The post office should be fully separated from the government and its rates allowed to follow market forces (this will never happen).

Why do you think UPS doesn't do first class mail? Must be nice to cherry pick which services you will offer. Why are UPS and Fed Ex rates sooooo much higher then media mail or priority mail rates?

I will agree that many of the people who work for the PO are totally dicks but I think that most of that is the environment in which they work.
 
I wonder how much e-mail has cut into their business. No reason to write letters anymore. Actually, I wonder how much the computer has destroyed penmanship abilities.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Indeed, I think almost all my stamps are forever stamps now. Except we still have a bunch of 2 cent stamps because of the fucking rate increases way back then that serve no purpose now.[/QUOTE]

This is a sly attempt at seeing how is going to bite for an autographed picture of you, wrapped up in the guise of complaining about having too many two cent stamps.

"I have all these stamps and nothing to do with them! And right next to a stack of photos of myself!"

Well played, Lady DoK.
 
[quote name='Strell']This is a sly attempt at seeing how is going to bite for an autographed picture of you, wrapped up in the guise of complaining about having too many two cent stamps.

"I have all these stamps and nothing to do with them! And right next to a stack of photos of myself!"

Well played, Lady DoK.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like viral advertising to me.
 
[quote name='schultzed']I am so fucking sick of listening to people complain about the PO. The post office should be fully separated from the government and its rates allowed to follow market forces (this will never happen).

Why do you think UPS doesn't do first class mail? Must be nice to cherry pick which services you will offer. Why are UPS and Fed Ex rates sooooo much higher then media mail or priority mail rates?

I will agree that many of the people who work for the PO are totally dicks but I think that most of that is the environment in which they work.[/QUOTE]


Yeah uh.... it is separate from the government. By law the PO must act as an independent business, which is why our tax dollars do not support it.
 
[quote name='Porksta']Yeah uh.... it is separate from the government. By law the PO must act as an independent business, which is why our tax dollars do not support it.[/QUOTE]

Yeah uh . . . if it were "fully separated" from the government it could set rates based on market forces rather than get government approval for rate increases. Tax payer funds have not supported it since the 1980s but that could change.

I was wrong earlier when I said that UPS didn't want to deliver first class mail . . . by law they can't. The PO is a constitutionally protected (mandated?) monopoly.

I guess it is best to call the PO a quasi-corporation and a quasi-governmental agency.
 
[quote name='Indiana Jones']I wonder how much e-mail has cut into their business. No reason to write letters anymore. Actually, I wonder how much the computer has destroyed penmanship abilities.[/QUOTE]
You mean like my largely unintelligible squiggles I call my signature anymore? I just scrawl the first letter and the rest is a line or series of loops with no discernable letters in there.:D
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']You mean like my largely unintelligible squiggles I call my signature anymore? I just scrawl the first letter and the rest is a line or series of loops with no discernable letters in there.:D[/QUOTE]
I was tied to my home computer for years but still managed to keep pretty good penmanship, despite writing less.

You know what killed my penmanship? College.
 
I have several ID's, licenses, and credit cards starting from when I was about 18. Now I'm almost 28. It's fun to watch my signature get progressively worse and worse as they years go by.
 
[quote name='opterasis']I have several ID's, licenses, and credit cards starting from when I was about 18. Now I'm almost 28. It's fun to watch my signature get progressively worse and worse as they years go by.[/QUOTE]
I think I shredded all of mine a while ago, but I used to have my first license in my one dresser. But it sucks since how you look gets progressively worse sometimes along with the signature.

Then again, I always seemed to go for my license picture the day after working an overnight shift someplace and I was barely awake enough to half smile.:cry:
 
I couldn't care less about the 2 cent increase but the 23% increase on >1lb. packages would definitely hurt. That would add roughly 50 cents to the cost of shipping one game. Multiply that by however many games one sells and trades on ebay, Goozex, CAG, etc. and that will add up real fast. The 7% increase on media mail would also add approximately 25 cents to the cost of shipping a single guide. Price increases are understandable in moderation but 23% is just ridiculous.
 
I really don't trade/sell that many games on CAG anymore, so the shipping increase doesn't matter that much to me. Plus I've been largely sending stuff flat rate for a while now. It's $5.60 total to ship a guide in a cardboard flat rate envelope(w/DC). No muss, no fuss, no having to guesstimate and get someone going 'zomg that's too high'.

They don't like it...then :razz:.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I really don't trade/sell that many games on CAG anymore, so the shipping increase doesn't matter that much to me. Plus I've been largely sending stuff flat rate for a while now. It's $5.60 total to ship a guide in a cardboard flat rate envelope(w/DC). No muss, no fuss, no having to guesstimate and get someone going 'zomg that's too high'.

They don't like it...then :razz:.[/QUOTE]

If you have paypal, you can print shipping labels for those flat rate envelopes for $4.85 total with free delivery confirmation. Plus you dont have to stand in line, just drop them off.
 
[quote name='addicted2games']If you have paypal, you can print shipping labels for those flat rate envelopes for $4.85 total with free delivery confirmation. Plus you dont have to stand in line, just drop them off.[/QUOTE]
Printers cost money and ink costs money. Plus I don't like the idea of having to eat the fees for any transaction IF I even took Paypal, since there's a whole jolly thread on how I guess Paypal is annoyed with people 'gifting' money to each other and how CAG's shouldn't do it now.

Besides which, I like the social time from standing in line with my fellow postal customers watching the soccer moms get pissed off cuz they're not going fast enough for them.:lol:
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Printers cost money and ink costs money. Plus I don't like the idea of having to eat the fees for any transaction IF I even took Paypal, since there's a whole jolly thread on how I guess Paypal is annoyed with people 'gifting' money to each other and how CAG's shouldn't do it now.

Besides which, I like the social time from standing in line with my fellow postal customers watching the soccer moms get pissed off cuz they're not going fast enough for them.:lol:[/QUOTE]

ok, you got me. How could I forget I was talking to IATCG. Duh!
 
[quote name='addicted2games']ok, you got me. How could I forget I was talking to IATCG. Duh![/QUOTE]When you are talking to IATCG, logic and common sense do not exist!
 
[quote name='darkslime']When you are talking to IATCG, logic and common sense do not exist![/QUOTE]
You pay any fees I have related to deals I might take payments via Paypal for so I don't lose any money and I'll be happy. That's why I still take payments only the 'old fashioned' ways of either a USPS money order or cold hard cash, since neither make anyone but ME the money.;)
 
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