FARK.com: (7377505) Postal service will charge another 1 cent per postage stamp next year, an increase that will affect dozens of people incapable of sending email

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		Postal service will charge another 1 cent per postage stamp next year, an increase that will affect dozens of people incapable of sending email (chicagotribune.com)		59
		More: PSA, U.S. Postal Service

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id10ts		2012-10-11 10:26:34 PM

Enough already.
Just raise it a dime now, but don't ask again for another 5 years.

/wife pays most bills online anyhoo.

This About That		2012-10-11 10:37:25 PM

Oh, sure. You add an extra day each way to my Netflix wait, and now you want more money.

MaudlinMutantMollusk		2012-10-11 10:47:53 PM

This About That: Oh, sure. You add an extra day each way to my Netflix wait, and now you want more money.

So it's not just me..

/still not sure whether it's the PO or Netflix causing the problem, though

This About That		2012-10-11 11:41:52 PM

/still not sure whether it's the PO or Netflix causing the problem, though

It's the PO. And I'm PO'd.

fusillade762		2012-10-11 11:48:51 PM

Lawmakers have been grappling for more than a year with ways to help the Postal Service return to profitability

How 'bout, oh I dunno, NOT MAKING THEM FUND THE RETIREMENT OF EMPLOYEES WHO HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN BORN YET??

Generation_D		2012-10-11 11:59:47 PM

boy you people really think you're smart, if you're so smart, tell me how all those political flyers and credit card offers are supposed to deliver themselves without a post office.

Bathia_Mapes		2012-10-12 12:05:36 AM

There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

RedPhoenix122		2012-10-12 12:24:10 AM

DanZero		2012-10-12 12:35:10 AM

optikeye		2012-10-12 12:44:30 AM

The USPS is far better for my home delivery than Fedex or UPS.

Plus, get over yourselves Urban dewellers..Some people that live in those 'grand glorious' internet tough guy areas..don't have daily delivery for mail, via FedEx, UPS. While USPS delivers to those locations.

Plus if you save the junk mail..they make good fireplace starters when you shred them and put a little wax and kerosene on them.

eraser8		2012-10-12 12:46:41 AM

Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

You can still make person-to-person transfers electronically. The payee doesn't even need to have a billpay account with your bank. The payment will show up in your payee's account immediately (if the payee has the same bank) or in about a day (if the payee has a different bank).

If your landlord only takes official checks, it sounds like s/he has a pretty small operation. So, I'd ask, if I were you. It would probably save on stamps and headaches. Handwritten checks suck.

Bathia_Mapes		2012-10-12 12:59:41 AM

RedPhoenix122: Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

My landlord takes personal checks, but the office isn't on site, so I'd have to drive 20 miles to drop off the check. Screw that, I'll pay the extra cent per month.

Ours stopped taking personal checks about 7 years ago after getting too many bad ones. However, we mail ours to a PO box that the management company maintains.

Bathia_Mapes		2012-10-12 01:01:20 AM

eraser8: Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

You can still make person-to-person transfers electronically. The payee doesn't even need to have a billpay account with your bank. The payment will show up in your payee's account immediately (if the payee has the same bank) or in about a day (if the payee has a different bank).

If your landlord only takes official checks, it sounds like s/he has a pretty small operation. So, I'd ask, if I were you. It would probably save on stamps and headaches. Handwritten checks suck.

We asked about that several years ago and it was a no go. The rent must be mailed to the property management's PO box.

RedPhoenix122		2012-10-12 01:16:23 AM

Bathia_Mapes: Ours stopped taking personal checks about 7 years ago after getting too many bad ones. However, we mail ours to a PO box that the management company maintains.

Our landlord will take personal checks unless you write a bad one, then it's certified check or money order.

Gig103		2012-10-12 01:39:23 AM

id10ts: Enough already.
Just raise it a dime now, but don't ask again for another 5 years.

/wife pays most bills online anyhoo.

I think the last time this came up, someone on Fark said there is a limit to how much they can raise it at a time. We need to get Congress to stop requiring up-front pension payments when nobody else in the government or private sector is required to do it.

BSABSVR		2012-10-12 01:46:05 AM

MaudlinMutantMollusk: This About That: Oh, sure. You add an extra day each way to my Netflix wait, and now you want more money.

So it's not just me..

/still not sure whether it's the PO or Netflix causing the problem, though

Netflix has a habit of slowing down processing for their most active customers.

Osomatic		2012-10-12 05:14:31 AM

optikeye: The USPS is far better for my home delivery than Fedex or UPS.

Plus, get over yourselves Urban dewellers..Some people that live in those 'grand glorious' internet tough guy areas..don't have daily delivery for mail, via FedEx, UPS. While USPS delivers to those locations.

Plus if you save the junk mail..they make good fireplace starters when you shred them and put a little wax and kerosene on them.

Fireplace starters? ARE YOU INSANE? Dude, the plasticky crap and who-knows-what in the inks they use... those things can probably put out some kinda fumes that will kill you! Now, see, around here in an urban area, we get the Pennysaver delivered every week, and that is some fine newspaper that I can use to crumple up and use in my charcoal chimney starter to get my charcoal going real nice.

But I'm worried about your health, man. Do not use any of those shiny catalogs, especially anywhere that you could breathe the fumes. That can't possibly be good for you.

Jensaarai		2012-10-12 05:15:56 AM

Osomatic		2012-10-12 05:20:30 AM

Oh also why doesn't the USPS just say "Fark You" and make it 50 cents for a stamp already? And also say "Fark You" to the various catalog mailers and raise the bulk rate too, because... what the hell else are they going to do? Stop mailing stuff?

DarkLancelot		2012-10-12 05:21:59 AM

Osomatic: Oh also why doesn't the USPS just say "Fark You" and make it 50 cents for a stamp already? And also say "Fark You" to the various catalog mailers and raise the bulk rate too, because... what the hell else are they going to do? Stop mailing stuff?

Because Congress has to approve any plan they make and Congress is trying to kill them.

CujoQuarrel		2012-10-12 05:23:38 AM

Osomatic: optikeye: The USPS is far better for my home delivery than Fedex or UPS.

Plus, get over yourselves Urban dewellers..Some people that live in those 'grand glorious' internet tough guy areas..don't have daily delivery for mail, via FedEx, UPS. While USPS delivers to those locations.

Plus if you save the junk mail..they make good fireplace starters when you shred them and put a little wax and kerosene on them.

Fireplace starters? ARE YOU INSANE? Dude, the plasticky crap and who-knows-what in the inks they use... those things can probably put out some kinda fumes that will kill you! Now, see, around here in an urban area, we get the Pennysaver delivered every week, and that is some fine newspaper that I can use to crumple up and use in my charcoal chimney starter to get my charcoal going real nice.

But I'm worried about your health, man. Do not use any of those shiny catalogs, especially anywhere that you could breathe the fumes. That can't possibly be good for you.

I use old phone books. They keep tossing them on my porch and I can't think of anything else to use them for. If I want a phone number that's what the internet is for.

BTW. Put some (not much) veg oil on the paper before you put it in the chimney starter so it acts like an oil wich.

AverageAmericanGuy		2012-10-12 05:39:25 AM

Suckers! This sudden increase in mailing costs is covered by my pack of Forever Stamps.

Wretschko		2012-10-12 05:48:15 AM

BSABSVR: MaudlinMutantMollusk: This About That: Oh, sure. You add an extra day each way to my Netflix wait, and now you want more money.

So it's not just me..

/still not sure whether it's the PO or Netflix causing the problem, though

Netflix has a habit of slowing down processing for their most active customers.

This is true IF it was on Netflix's end.

The post office NEVER slows down processing for ANY customer. It follows the "deliver date" pretty damned faithfully.

And I say that as a contractor with first hand knowledge of how postal operations. . . operate.

/Cue the Austin Powers clip! "Allow myself to introduce... myself."

This is a late parrot		2012-10-12 05:49:15 AM

A lot of my friends pay their bills online. I don't. My belief is that the companies want to eliminate jobs by having the customer pay online. I don't know how true that is but, I figure somebody has a job delivering it and somebody has a job opening and entering it.

Realistically, paying online probably cuts down on some errors, I just can't bring my self to do it.

I will gladly pay the extra penny or however much they want to raise it until it becomes more than a dollar to send a payment.

SuperDuper28		2012-10-12 05:50:58 AM

They didn't think their cunning plan of overpaying employees and offering cushy benefits plans over the last several decades all the way though

Skr		2012-10-12 05:54:12 AM

CujoQuarrel:
I use old phone books.

Phone books are amazing fire starters and the dye/ink ( at least around here) is soy based and safe. I'll let the rabbits munch on one for a while and then toss the book into the pit. Pages will keep turning giving the flame constant fresh tinder.

Oddly enough, Doritos are awesome fire starters as well. Who woulda thunk it.

/uses forever stamps, numbered postage is just too much of a hassle.

Osomatic		2012-10-12 06:04:11 AM

CujoQuarrel: BTW. Put some (not much) veg oil on the paper before you put it in the chimney starter so it acts like an oil wich.

Heh, dude, I am already there and I do it every time - oh and also sometimes I use newspapers or Pennysavers or other paper crap they deliver in the mail to scrub out my cast iron pan, and then use that to light up the chimney starter. Works like a charm! Although sometimes you get some smoke if I was cooking steaks or whatever. But that's okay, heavy smoke is what cooking outside is for!

hbk72777		2012-10-12 06:04:35 AM

Cue the morons who only read the headlines. Deep in the article (not this shiatty one), it raises the prices of flat rate envelopes and boxes 10%. I've been selling on Ebay for years, but the buyers have just about dried up. Between Ebay and the Post Office increases the past decade, they're pricing themselves out. If you have ebay stock, sell now. That cute little new logo and redesign of the site does nothing to fix the problems of lack of customers. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to shop there anymore. That little padded envelope is now $6, the large flat rate box, which isn't that big anyway, is now $17. The flat rates were invented to send heavier items that didn't take up a lot of truck space. Clothes, toys, small machinery/car parts Now, at that price,why bother? Just go to the store.

Onkel Buck		2012-10-12 06:40:15 AM

Good thing the government took the USPS over, they were making money at one time

prjindigo		2012-10-12 06:45:49 AM

Yeah, its terrible... I'm gonna have to spend another $7.00 every three months on postage... oh my...
// / //idiot reporting

TheSwizz		2012-10-12 07:07:58 AM

hbk72777: Cue the morons who only read the headlines. Deep in the article (not this shiatty one), it raises the prices of flat rate envelopes and boxes 10%. I've been selling on Ebay for years, but the buyers have just about dried up. Between Ebay and the Post Office increases the past decade, they're pricing themselves out. If you have ebay stock, sell now. That cute little new logo and redesign of the site does nothing to fix the problems of lack of customers. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to shop there anymore. That little padded envelope is now $6, the large flat rate box, which isn't that big anyway, is now $17. The flat rates were invented to send heavier items that didn't take up a lot of truck space. Clothes, toys, small machinery/car parts Now, at that price,why bother? Just go to the store.

I used to be a heavy eBayer. Now with Amazon Prime, I only go there to buy used video games because fark GameStop.

Wodan11		2012-10-12 07:12:08 AM

... still think the USPS needs to abolish the bulk mail rate.

Albert911emt		2012-10-12 07:39:23 AM

DanZero: [img.photobucket.com image 550x619]

I love that cartoon, and the best part is, is that it's totally true.

dittybopper		2012-10-12 07:41:00 AM

I still use snailmail, mostly to exchange QSL cards. An electronic QSL, while valid for awards, just doesn't have the same mystique as a postcard from some far-off land. Since I don't care about awards per se*, the convenience of electronic QSLs are lost on me.

*I am working on Worked All States (WAS) CW only, but only casually, and only to the extent that I have the cards. I don't need the wallpaper if I got the cards.

LtDarkstar		2012-10-12 07:50:52 AM

Uh ya I can send email just fine thanks, but this impacts my DMV plate requests since those MUST be sent in via mail with a self-address-stamped envelope. Guess i'll be buying more of those "Forever Stamps" *sigh*

Dupa		2012-10-12 07:59:02 AM

The Dupa plan to rescue the post office & make the world a better place...
Charge 4 cents for every e-mail & text sent.
One penny would go to the NSA, and one to the FBI, to help cover the expense of reviewing your mail. For national security purposes, of course. You want security, right?
A penny for the children. Because it's for the children
And, of course, one penny to the Post Office, so they can keep delivering buggy whips.

CarnySaur		2012-10-12 08:05:13 AM

AverageAmericanGuy: Suckers! This sudden increase in mailing costs is covered by my pack of Forever Stamps.

I miss the days when I had to go back to the post office to ask for a handful of one cent stamps.

schoberp		2012-10-12 08:08:22 AM

I work in a mail room. Every time someone sighs melodramatically at a yearly increase of a penny per stamp, I challenge them to deliver a letter to the closest city for cheaper than the cost of that stamp. If they can do it, cool. Otherwise, they can STFU.

A gallon of gas costs ~$4. If the average car gets 25MPG, that means you can go 6 miles for a dollar(assuming that starting your car burns 0 gas). So, if your letter is going farther than a mile and a half away, it will cost you more to drive it there than to mail it. And that same stamp means you can mail a letter to Honolulu or Key West for exactly the same cost.

Gas goes up weekly, and outside of a few articles about how those wacky Californians are paying through the nose, no one kvetches "oh, no one drives anymore. With telecommuting and Skype, I don't have to visit people, let's let the roads grow over."

So man up, pay the twenty cents more for the book of stamps that will lat you all year, and stop your goddamned whining!

notmtwain		2012-10-12 08:12:38 AM

Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

Yes and you get to have the pleasure of making interest free loans to the Federal government at the same time.

How patriotic of you!

// How many years of forever did you buy? 10? 20? 50? Think of the children, will you?

// What about the grandchildren? (Yes, little Jimmy, your great great grandmother Bathia bought a 500 year supply of Forever Stamps. Now we're the only family in the valley that can afford to send out Christmas Cards...)

CarnySaur		2012-10-12 08:14:48 AM

schoberp: I work in a mail room. Every time someone sighs melodramatically at a yearly increase of a penny per stamp, I challenge them to deliver a letter to the closest city for cheaper than the cost of that stamp. If they can do it, cool. Otherwise, they can STFU.

A gallon of gas costs ~$4. If the average car gets 25MPG, that means you can go 6 miles for a dollar(assuming that starting your car burns 0 gas). So, if your letter is going farther than a mile and a half away, it will cost you more to drive it there than to mail it. And that same stamp means you can mail a letter to Honolulu or Key West for exactly the same cost.

Gas goes up weekly, and outside of a few articles about how those wacky Californians are paying through the nose, no one kvetches "oh, no one drives anymore. With telecommuting and Skype, I don't have to visit people, let's let the roads grow over."

So man up, pay the twenty cents more for the book of stamps that will lat you all year, and stop your goddamned whining!

rookery.s3.amazonaws.com

fluffy2097		2012-10-12 09:03:54 AM

So am I going to need 1 cent stamps for my forever stamps now?

Kangaroo_Ralph		2012-10-12 09:24:00 AM

In other words, a tax on the elderly to pay for another failed government-run enterprise.

I just heard about the military working hard to get absentee ballots to the soldiers by sending them Fed-Ex. At least I know they're serious now.

cwolf20		2012-10-12 09:49:06 AM

Yay. I'm sure our clients will be appreciative of having to pay an increase in postage on the payroll checks we send to them after running them through our payroll program.

office_despot		2012-10-12 09:50:40 AM

The weirdest thing is that they stopped selling stamps at my post office. I have to get them at Walgreens. WTF?

Biness		2012-10-12 09:52:40 AM

approves

you have pee hands		2012-10-12 10:13:41 AM

notmtwain: Yes and you get to have the pleasure of making interest free loans to the Federal government at the same time.

Interest free loans to the federal government for $9. I'll get over it. That's a lot less than the EZPass folks are getting from me. The dime a year in lost interest earnings is worth it if I never have to see another penny stamp.

Too Pretty For Prison		2012-10-12 10:22:53 AM

The scheme is brilliant. About every 6 or 8 months I am forced to actually mail something. I go to the Post Office and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again". Then 6 months later I have to mail something and can't find the stamps, so I go back and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again - and this time I mean it". Then 6 months.....repeat, etc.

anfrind		2012-10-12 12:22:54 PM

notmtwain: Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

Yes and you get to have the pleasure of making interest free loans to the Federal government at the same time.

How patriotic of you!

// How many years of forever did you buy? 10? 20? 50? Think of the children, will you?

I bought a pack of forever stamps at Costco about five years ago, and as of right now I'm about halfway through it. I don't think that was a bad investment.

Too Pretty For Prison: The scheme is brilliant. About every 6 or 8 months I am forced to actually mail something. I go to the Post Office and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again". Then 6 months later I have to mail something and can't find the stamps, so I go back and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again - and this time I mean it". Then 6 months.....repeat, etc.

I have an old-fashioned writing desk with several drawers of multiple sizes (a hand-me-down from my grandmother) that I keep all of my dead-tree products in, including stamps, spare pens and pencils, and envelopes. That way, I always know where to look for things when I need to mail something.

joeflood		2012-10-12 12:52:11 PM

Wretschko: BSABSVR: MaudlinMutantMollusk: This About That: Oh, sure. You add an extra day each way to my Netflix wait, and now you want more money.

So it's not just me..

/still not sure whether it's the PO or Netflix causing the problem, though

Netflix has a habit of slowing down processing for their most active customers.

This is true IF it was on Netflix's end.

The post office NEVER slows down processing for ANY customer. It follows the "deliver date" pretty damned faithfully.

And I say that as a contractor with first hand knowledge of how postal operations. . . operate.

/Cue the Austin Powers clip! "Allow myself to introduce... myself."

Also, don't mess with USPS. Postal Inspectors are scary.

Too Pretty For Prison		2012-10-12 12:57:41 PM

anfrind: notmtwain: Bathia_Mapes: There are somethings I can't do via email, such as pay my rent. It needs to be sent by mail. Our landlord doesn't take credit or debit cards & we must either send a money order or cashier's check. No personal checks allowed.

Oh, and most of us are smart enough to buy Forever Stamps, which aren't affected by rate increases.

Yes and you get to have the pleasure of making interest free loans to the Federal government at the same time.

How patriotic of you!

// How many years of forever did you buy? 10? 20? 50? Think of the children, will you?

I bought a pack of forever stamps at Costco about five years ago, and as of right now I'm about halfway through it. I don't think that was a bad investment.

Too Pretty For Prison: The scheme is brilliant. About every 6 or 8 months I am forced to actually mail something. I go to the Post Office and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again". Then 6 months later I have to mail something and can't find the stamps, so I go back and think "oh, I'll just buy a book of these forever stamps so I won't ever have to come back again - and this time I mean it". Then 6 months.....repeat, etc.

I have an old-fashioned writing desk with several drawers of multiple sizes (a hand-me-down from my grandmother) that I keep all of my dead-tree products in, including stamps, spare pens and pencils, and envelopes. That way, I always know where to look for things when I need to mail something.

Oh, I have a desk - but I also have a 5 year old that thinks stamps make great stickers. I actually do know where my latest book of stamps is. But I bet I've bought at least 3 in the past and only used 1 stamp out of them.

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