Sending out our Christmas cards this year, we were reminded about how much the Internet has changed our mailing habits. We pay 10 to 12 bills per month and write a letter or two, maybe send a birthday greeting or a charitable donation or subscription renewal and all these were done through the mail with the result that we would go through about a page of 20 stamps each month.
That's all changed now. 37-cent stamps that we bought before the most recent postage rate hike almost a year ago were, for the most part, still sitting in our drawer. Fortunately, so were dozens of 2-cent stamps. I estimate that at the rate we're using stamps we should run out of 37-cent stamps in about 3 years which, according to the history of postal rates shown below, should be about when the next rate increase will take place.
History of First-Class Stamp Rates
July 1, 1885 - Nov. 1, 1917 .02
Nov. 2, 1917 - June 30, 1919 .03 War Years
July 1, 1919 .02 Dropped back by Congress
July 6, 1932 .03
August 1, 1958 .04
January 7, 1963 .05
January 7, 1968 .06
May 16, 1971 .08
March 2, 1974 .10
December 31, 1975 .13
May 29, 1978 .15 "A" Stamp Used
March 22, 1981 .18 "B" Stamp Used
November 1, 1981 .20 "C" Stamp Used
February 17, 1985 .22 "D" Stamp Used
April 3, 1988 .25 "E" Stamp Used
February 3, 1991 .29 "F" Stamp Used
January 1, 1995 .32 "G" Stamp Used
January 10, 1999 .33 "H" Stamp Used
January 7, 2001 .34 Nondenominated Stamps Used
June 30, 2002 .37 Flag and Antique Toy Stamps Used
January 8, 2006 .39 Love True Blue and Lady Liberty Flag Stamps Used
* The date specified is the first day on which the rate became applicable. In some instances, the rate introduced was temporary.
Source: prc-webmaster@prc.gov.
No comments:
Post a Comment