Bidenflation strikes: If you waited to buy your ‘Forever’ stamps, you’re out of luck

If you were planning to buy “Forever” stamps from the post office, the ones that can be used even after rate changes, it’s too late. The US Postal Service has increased its rates…again.

The US Postal Service’s official mission is as follows:

The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities.

Most people think that the official mission is “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” but it’s not.

However, whichever mission statement one looks at (real or imagined), both are basically true. Most US Postal Service employees are diligent, but the reality is that mail volume has declined steadily since 2008:

After reaching a peak of around 213 billion units in 2006, the U.S. Postal Services (USPS) has experienced a year-on-year decline in mail volume every year since. In 2022, the volume of mail delivered by the USPS dropped to just 127.3 billion units.

Why the decline? Hmm. Could it be because computer usage has expanded way beyond geekdom and business so that, within less than 20 years, it’s crept into almost every nook of everyday life? So, while people over, say, 55, might have fond memories of their childhood when they received a birthday card from a now-deceased grandparent or treasure early love letters and eventual wedding invitations, these communication methods might soon be going the way of the horse and buggy. They will be items or services once necessary but now considered, at best, exotic. Thus, a touristy horse and buggy trip around New York City, once a standard form of transportation, is now $255 for half an hour.

Image: Mailboxes (edited) by Ben Schumin. CC BY-SA 2.0.

And then there’s what happened yesterday, which may further accelerate snail mail’s decline. That’s because Sunday, a day of no mail delivery, was the day that a new increase in postage rates went into effect. Oh.

U.S. Postal Service Proposes New Prices for 2024

• New prices scheduled to take effect Jan. 21, 2024
• Postal Service prices remain among the most affordable in the world
• First-Class Forever stamp will be 68 cents

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of mailing services price changes to take effect Jan. 21, 2024. The new rates include a 2-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, from 66 cents to 68 cents.

Product	Current Prices	Planned Prices
Letters (1 ounce)	66 cents	68 cents
Letters (metered 1 ounce)	63 cents	64 cents
Domestic Postcards	51 cents	53 cents
International Postcards	$1.50	$1.55
International Letter (1 ounce)	$1.50	$1.55

And now you know why every business or every organization is begging you to switch to online bill delivery and offering you all types of goodies if you do. You also know why you, an over-30-something, are now paying your bills online, fees included, to avoid high-priced stamps and questionable delivery resulting in late payment fees.

You’ve even become accustomed to receiving online wedding and other gala (and not so gala) invitations, announcements, etc., tucked among the daily multi-platform, multi-multi messages jamming your computer and/or cell phone.

Faster and cheaper can’t be beat.

Oh, and not so by the way, for those of you with long memories, which includes 21-year-olds, in 2021, when President Joe Biden (D) took office, the price for a first-class forever stamp was 55 cents, so today’s first-class stamp price increase comes to 23.5 percent in just three years.

A fine example of Bidenomics in action. Get used to it; more to come.

Uh oh. Is the government about to take over private online services? Just asking. Just warning.