Post office beginning rate increase process

SJ Mercury News ^ | 1/9/03 | AP - Washington,DC

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The post office is beginning the process of seeking a rate increase even as it awaits congressional action that would make the step unnecessary.

The internal process of preparing for a new rate case has started, postal vice president Azeezaly Jaffer confirmed Thursday. The amount of any increase won't be determined until that analysis is completed.

[Enterprise]

I have been resisting online banking and bill paying. Soon, I guess, soon.

[Semper911]

Overall, the post office, which does not receive a tax subsidy for operations, is required to break even over time.

When it comes right down to it, we all break even over time.

[KarlInOhio]

I have been resisting online banking and bill paying. Soon, I guess, soon.

I have been using it for a couple of years now. About the only bill payments I mail myself are tax payments and medical bills. Between online banking and online responses to book and CD clubs, I probably only mail one-tenth of what I used to during a normal month.

Now if I could just get people to accept emailed Christmas cards I could ignore the post office entirely. I have about 30 Christmas stamps left over, and I wouldn't be suprised if those lasted me most of the year.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I wonder how much the (aptly acronymed) PO makes on rate increases due to

1. increased charges

vs.

2. how many of the old stamps are never used because it's too much trouble to go out and buy and affix the penny stamps to make them work

In other words, they get so much more per letter, but they also get this big windfall of cash that results from people buying stamps that end up spending the rest of their life in the bottom of a drawer.

[Enterprise]

That always fries me. Inevitably I get caught with about 20 of the old stamps, and they don't have the new one cent stamps in. Grrrrr.

[xrp]

Just in case anyone was wondering, here is the history of postage stamp price increases over the years. This is courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor and up through the 33 cent stamps:

July 1, 1885 2 cents

Nov. 3, 1917 3 cents

July 1, 1919 2 cents

July 6, 1932 3 cents

Aug. 1, 1958 4 cents

Jan. 7, 1963 5 cents

Jan. 7, 1968 6 cents

May 16, 1971 8 cents

March 2, 1974 10 cents

Dec. 31, 1975 13 cents

May 29, 1978 15 cents

March 22, 1981 18 cents

Nov. 1, 1981 20 cents

Feb. 17, 1985 22 cents

April 3, 1988 25 cents

Feb. 3, 1991 29 cents

Jan. 1, 1995 32 cents

Jan. 10, 1999 33 cents

I think stamps went to 37 cents in 2000 and then 37 cents in 2002, right? Looks like I'll move most of my bills to online bill pay. Now if only my grandmother would use a computer so I could send her online email and e-greetings for free...

[xrp]

err to 34 cents in 2000 then 37 in 2002.

[muawiyah]

The way things work, First-Class Mail pays the greater part of what is called the Institutional Contribution.

This supplemental payment to the CSRS fund definitely falls into the category of Institutional Contribution.

The current plan bandied about USPS and by the big mailers is to simply hold postage rates steady for several years once the bonanza is obtained from the Treasury.

That will mean that these funds, raised from the mailers as part of the Institutional Contribution will be used to defray the Direct or "out of pocket" costs of sorting and moving all of the classes of mail.

In short, money paid by bill payers and utilities will be diverted to subsidize direct mail advertising!

On the surface this does not look to be fair to the rate payers.

Should be a hot time over at the Postal Rate Commission when they get the proposal referenced above!

A third way to handle this problem of excess payment into the CSRS retirement fund is to distrubute it as an additional annuity payable to postal retirees!

[dalebert]

Pricing themselves out of the market if they had competition. Evidently they don't have it.

[muawiyah]

Current rates, adjusted for inflation, are pretty much the same as they were in 1971.

Postal mail volumes have increased several hundred percent over that period - there has been no shortage of business!

[relee]

I hope they use good sense and raise it to 40 or 45 cents and not 39 or 41 cents.

[Mark17]

I have been resisting online banking and bill paying. Soon, I guess, soon.

Since all these rate increases, I do not send letters to anyone. I only pay bills by mail, and, as you say, that may soon come to an end.

[Made In The USA]

Would highly recommend electronic payments through the web. It's a great convenience: point, click, and done. You may find many of your vendors allow you to pay them through their website. This usually means setting up an on-line account and providing either your checking account information or a debit card.

It's such a convenience for me that I've gotten to the point of not wanting to do business with a company if I can't deal with them through the web. Good luck!

[3catsanadog]

Huh? Didn't they just raise the price of a stamp to 37 cents a couple weeks ago?

[Enterprise]

Thanks for the advice. There is no doubt that for convenience, it is unbeatable.

[GOPrincess]

The comparison of the rate increases between 1919 and 1975 and then 1975 to present is fascinating (and sad).

As much as I love the Internet and email, writing letters and sending cards is one of the joys of my life. I love sitting down at my rolltop desk to answer a letter, trade photos of the kids with friends (it's just different holding it in your hand than looking at an emailed pic on the screen), decorate a birthday card envelope with cheery stickers and rubber stamps, and so on. And there's nothing like finding "real mail" among the bills! :)

The management of the Post Office is incredibly awful. Like any government agency, they offer poor service (the stories I could tell of late!) while vacuuming every penny they can out of the taxpayers'/ratepayers' pockets!

[DeaconBenjamin]

My friend, I expected to see you on this post. However, are we being a little melodramatic here? Surely you are not suggesting that advertising mail does not pay more than its attributable costs. I am confident you are well aware that Standard A ECR bears one of the highest markups of any subclass, and contributes a significant chunk of change to the Postal Service's institutional costs.

[SamAdams76]

I've been using online banking for several years now. It's one of those things that if you aren't doing it, you have no desire to start. But once you start, you wonder how you ever got along without it.

Once you get through the initial setup, it's totally painless, quick and reliable. If you are the organized type, you can set up your software (I use MS Money) to do all sorts of useful things. For instance, with just a right-click, I can find out how much money I spent at a particular restaurant for the past 4 years. Or I can have an up-to-date snapshot of my net worth. I use MS Money to help me pay my mortgage down quicker. The possibilities are endless. I'll be able to do my taxes in about an hour next month (even though I use the long form and itemize) because everything is all figured out. All my deductions are already tabulated and all my taxes paid for 2002 have already been figured out. When tax time comes, I just import the data into TurboTax and I am done.

Other then sending Christmas cards, I hardly ever use the mail. I have about 30 leftover Christmas stamps and I figure they will easily last me until next Christmas.

[Enterprise]

Thank you. I am sure I will just give in and get it over with. Your experiences give me hope.