Do what with a what now?

are people really that stupid that they can't mail a letter?

stock up on the forever stamps! Thats my 2 cents.

As someone who runs a mail room for a federal building let me say this - a lot more than half of you don't know how to address mail correctly, let alone put the correct amount of postage on it.

True enough. I still haven't used enough of the old 39 cent stamps (plus the sweet penny ones) to even buy the "forever" ones. Damn online bill pay and email.

I've tried to mail letters over the last year. About half never arrived and the rest were returned.

Apparently, if you mail more than a single square of toilet paper, it takes two stamps now.

I'm never sure which slot in my computer is the one for letters. I am also still waiting for my Tab. I have the cup holder open and wverything!

I haven't sent a physical e-mail in a long time.

I sense an opportunity for arbitrage here.

drewblank: I've tried to mail letters over the last year. About half never arrived and the rest were returned.

Apparently, if you mail more than a single square of toilet paper, it takes two stamps now.

Don't forget, it can't be two ply. That requires the three cent stamp.

Actually, what if you just flip flopped your return address for where its supposed to be going. Don't place a stamp on it and throw it in the mail. Then, they will just "return to sender."

As a Canadian now transplanted to the US, and also as a netflix customer, let me assure you that the USPS absolutely rocks. I farking love it.

Seriously. The prices are reasonable and the speed is incredible.

I don't care if I make errors in mailing a letter, the USPS is a farce and I hate the friggen post office clerks and their stupid smug faces when they all decide to take a break together when there's a line ten deep on a wednesday afternoon. I loathe that farking monopoly. And their shoes and pants and shirts suck, and their stupid trucks suck too.

That's pretty dumb actually. I don't remember not knowing how to mail something. That and I use Ebay, and I'm a military wife, so it's kind of essential for me to know how to mail something. For anything bigger than a letter, I just priority mail it. Gets there faster and you don't have to worry about whether or not you put enough stamps on it.

I have officially boycotted stamps! Email and Online bill pay baby!!

mreuther: I'm never sure which slot in my computer is the one for letters. I am also still waiting for my Tab. I have the cup holder open and wverything!

Maybe you forgot to step on the foot pedal or press the any key.

Just bought a book of these stamps - $8.40! I feel like I'm getting so friggin' old 'cause I'm starting to say "Jeez, these are expensive, I remember when a book of stamps cost..."

/Off my lawn

Heamer: blaineT: As someone who runs a mail room for a federal building let me say this - a lot more than half of you don't know how to address mail correctly, let alone put the correct amount of postage on it.

I don't write many letters, but I'm curious as to how the hell so many people can f*ck up such a simple task. I've never once had a letter I've written returned to me because of an error I made in mailing it. What are these people doing?

THISTHISTHIS.

jjorsett: I sense an opportunity for arbitrage here.

It's not arbitrage, because there is a time risk involved - you'd have to wait a few years for the price of stamps to rise.

/and where are you going to unload your pure, uncut stamp merchandise?

blaineT: As someone who runs a mail room for a federal building let me say this - a lot more than half of you don't know how to address mail correctly, let alone put the correct amount of postage on it.

Please teach me, I wanna be learned in your ways...

Ed Willy: drewblank: I've tried to mail letters over the last year. About half never arrived and the rest were returned.

Apparently, if you mail more than a single square of toilet paper, it takes two stamps now.

Don't forget, it can't be two ply. That requires the three cent stamp.

He can't spare a square.

Does it really make financial sense to stock up on the stamps? The new ones are $0.01 more expensive. It seems like if you bought a bunch of stamps, you'd actually loose more money in interest (assuming you just saved the money instead) than you'd save buying stamps now.

mrapier: I don't care if I make errors in mailing a letter, the USPS is a farce and I hate the friggen post office clerks and their stupid smug faces when they all decide to take a break together when there's a line ten deep on a wednesday afternoon. I loathe that farking monopoly. And their shoes and pants and shirts suck, and their stupid trucks suck too.

I totally agree. I'm ok with keeping the post office, but why exactly is it illegal for UPS or Fedex to mail a standard letter? And why does a so called "separate" entity get federal law protection? Last I checked, there's no "UPS fraud" law and it's not a federal crime to destroy a Fedex drop box.

wow stamp prices going up? extra extra! welcome to the wonderful world of last week

Eh. I mail stuff so infrequently I have to his the Postal Service website every time to find out how much postage is. Mother's Day cards for my mom, Mrs. Pyynk, and Grandma Pyynk ended up being a Forever stamp and four 24 cent stamps from 2005.

All my fan mail that I send to Drew keeps bouncing. I don't know what part of d­re­wk­raf­c­om the USPS doesn't understand...

Only a government run institution would raise their prices to make up for lost funds, as competition increases and demand for their service decreases.

chappy62 2008-05-09 02:41:04 PM

Actually, what if you just flip flopped your return address for where its supposed to be going. Don't place a stamp on it and throw it in the mail. Then, they will just "return to sender."


That only works if you are in a close range to the address, they won't return it too far away.

/I've tested this.

The Post Office around here does a great job, but the yearly hike in postage is starting to get on my nerves. Partly the price increase, but partly the hassle with stamps. If you are only farting out mail occasionally you almost have to do god damn research to know how much postage to put on the farking envelope.

I will be stocking up on forever stamps this weekend.

Heamer: I don't write many letters, but I'm curious as to how the hell so many people can f*ck up such a simple task.

I work at a university that has a post office in its student union. When I'm in line, I get the sense that about a quarter of them have never sent a letter before. The freshmen are the funniest. They seem to think it's the post office's job to address the envelope.

Millions of people are buying up forever stamps to save the 1 cent increase. How many letters do these people send a year? Has to be over 1000 to make it almost worth it.

Oh wait, people are idiots.

degreeless: Only a government run institution would raise their prices to make up for lost funds, as competition increases and demand for their service decreases.

Unlike all these supermarkets, that have decided to combat rising transportation costs for merchandise by slashing their prices...

...never mind.

mrapier: I don't care if I make errors in mailing a letter, the USPS is a farce and I hate the friggen post office clerks and their stupid smug faces when they all decide to take a break together when there's a line ten deep on a wednesday afternoon. I loathe that farking monopoly. And their shoes and pants and shirts suck, and their stupid trucks suck too.

The post office down the road closes for an hour for lunch break. Farking lunch break. Closed from 11:30-12:30. Three people working there all take a break right in the middle of the day. The same time me and 100 other people are on our lunch break and wanted to run a few errands AND ONE OF THOSE ERRANDS WAS MAILING A DAMN LETTER AND MY CABLE BILL IT TAKES A FARKING HALF AN HOUR TO GET THROUGH TRAFFIC TO GET TO THE ONLY POST OFFICE AROUND FOR MILES AND HEY WHAT DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE ON A FARKING LUNCH BREAK!

why are people biatching about the postage increase? it's a penny here and a penny there. how many freakin letters are you people mailing? and if people are mailing bills thats just silly. do it online.

One time I was mailing the rent and My credit card payment. I put the rent check in the credit card envelope and the credit card check in the rent envelope. oooh! that was SOOOOOOO crazy.

So..does that qualify Me as one of them horrible people BlaineT referred to? I did address & stamp them properly.
I hope not, cuz I hate stew-pit people that can't even handle a simple task.

You know who else raised the price of postage...

Letter goes where???

chappy62: Actually, what if you just flip flopped your return address for where its supposed to be going. Don't place a stamp on it and throw it in the mail. Then, they will just "return to sender."

I too have tested this and it worked for a letter sent from PA with a Virgina return address on it. It took for ever though. Like a couple months.

daveydave: mrapier: I don't care if I make errors in mailing a letter, the USPS is a farce and I hate the friggen post office clerks and their stupid smug faces when they all decide to take a break together when there's a line ten deep on a wednesday afternoon. I loathe that farking monopoly. And their shoes and pants and shirts suck, and their stupid trucks suck too.

The post office down the road closes for an hour for lunch break. Farking lunch break. Closed from 11:30-12:30. Three people working there all take a break right in the middle of the day. The same time me and 100 other people are on our lunch break and wanted to run a few errands AND ONE OF THOSE ERRANDS WAS MAILING A DAMN LETTER AND MY CABLE BILL IT TAKES A FARKING HALF AN HOUR TO GET THROUGH TRAFFIC TO GET TO THE ONLY POST OFFICE AROUND FOR MILES AND HEY WHAT DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE ON A FARKING LUNCH BREAK!

I certainly think closing for an hour at lunch is foolish (thank the union for that), but if you are mailing your cable bill back with a check, you are doing it wrong.

Here's an idea I heard. Instead of raising the price of stamps by a cent or two every few years, lets just jump the price up to say... 60 cents. Then keep it there for like a decade or more. It'll build a surplus for their budget and make things a lot more simple for us in the long run.

dallashockey: are people really that stupid that they can't mail a letter?

It's not a question of intelligence it's a question of memory. I don't handwrite anything anymore. Every great once and a while I have to hand write something and I've actually forgotten how to write certain letters. If you don't use it you lose it. Do you remember how to program a VCR?

I send a single piece of mail each month, if you don't include Netflix returns, and I run it through the postage meter at work, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.

\rent check

turbowaffle: Does it really make financial sense to stock up on the stamps? The new ones are $0.01 more expensive. It seems like if you bought a bunch of stamps, you'd actually loose more money in interest (assuming you just saved the money instead) than you'd save buying stamps now.

Interest or not, it's dumb. These are the same people who drive halfway across town so they can pay $3.29 a gallon instead of $3.32.

I still have 39 cent stamps left. I hate USPS. Lose at least one letter each year.

Can't you people buy stamps at the grocery store? I hear you all complaining about Cable bills and such. Is the post office seriously the only drop off you have in your town? There are probably 8 drop off points within 2 miles of my house.

/confused in Kansas.

spacechicken170am
no one remembers how to program a VCR but i still think anyone over the age of 20 should definitely know how to address a piece of mail. i mean how hard is it really? recipient address in the center. return address top left and stamp top right. and i do agree on handwriting. mine looks like dog turd. if i can even remember how to draw the damn letter.

I have pre-civil war stamps...I wonder how many letters I can mail with them?

Rational Exuberance: mrapier: I don't care if I make errors in mailing a letter, the USPS is a farce and I hate the friggen post office clerks and their stupid smug faces when they all decide to take a break together when there's a line ten deep on a wednesday afternoon. I loathe that farking monopoly. And their shoes and pants and shirts suck, and their stupid trucks suck too.

I totally agree. I'm ok with keeping the post office, but why exactly is it illegal for UPS or Fedex to mail a standard letter? And why does a so called "separate" entity get federal law protection? Last I checked, there's no "UPS fraud" law and it's not a federal crime to destroy a Fedex drop box.

So, is UPS or Fedex going to ship to the door of every legally recognized address in the United States and territories? Are they going to be governed by political appontees? I don't think so. What people fail to realize is that the USPS is governed by a board appointed by the president and approved by congress.

Not to mention the USPS subsidizes life in Alaska, you would only be able to live in the big cities if it was not for the USPS. Any deregulation of the mail would see rates increase for Alaska, Montana, Iowa, not to mention rural bumblefark towns in every state. Oh sure rates would go down in all the big cities, but do you really want it to cost $2 to send ma and pa kettle a Christmass card?

As to why it is fruad, because the USPS handles billions of dollars a day in money orders, valuable merchandise, and vital corospondence and was one of the first entities to do so. It is backed by the US government to provide a trusted entitity to do those type of transactions with and has its own police force to protect your mail.