By now, most of you have probably heard the news from the United States Postal Service. Starting in May, the price to mail a first class letter will increase from $0.39 to $0.41. Price increases every couple of years isn’t anything new. The new bit is they will be offering a “forever stamp.” From what I gather, this stamp will also cost $0.41 and will be valid…..well–forever.

So if you purchase the forever stamp, and the price to mail a first class letter goes up to $0.52, you can apply one of these special stamps and off it goes for $0.41.

I imagine as soon as these become available, people will rush out and stock up thus locking their postage costs in at today’s prices. The post office stands to make a LOT of money when this happens. The problem is this: government agencies, historically, are not so good when it comes to investing and preparing for lean times. If the masses buy the forever stamp in large quantities, they won’t need to buy stamps for a long time. At some point during those lean years, the post office will run out of money (probably sooner rather than later) and who will pick up the tab?

My guess is it will be the people who did not plan ahead and buy the forever stamps.

I think my plan will be to find every possible way to get around using the USPS. I’ll send more emails. I’ll pay more bills online. I’ll send online birthday greetings through the Hallmark website.

So what are YOU going to do when the forever stamp comes out?

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