Going Postal

I wish I could understand why postage keeps going up. We (at the office) had e-mail the other day from the service bureau/mailroom informing us that a one-ounce letter will now cost $0.41 to mail. Bump up to two oh-zees and the damage rises to %0.58...which I'm told is actually a nickel less than current rates (which further tells me that they make most of their $$ on that first ounce).

Part of the reason--well, no, the whole reason--for my confusion is this: Too many explanations.

Like our presence in Iraq, the "reasons" for postal increases seem to keep shifting depending on circumstances. Once upon a time, we were told that the increase was necessary in order to automate the postal service and, thus, keep costs down in the long run. And even this current increase is headlined "Shaping a More Efficient Future."

Okay.

But in living memory we've also been told--and sometimes simultaneously--that it is both competition from FedEx, UPS, DHL, e-mail, carrier pigeons, etc., and a huge surge (to use a currently popular word) in the amount of advertising (aka junk) mail that the post office must process.

In short--we need to raise rates again because business is down and business is up.

My suggestion (although it does smack of throat-cutting, since most of what I do on the job ends up going bulk rate) is to raise the roof on bulk rates. One of two--or maybe both of two--things will happen: Either bulk-mailers will continue to fill up our mailboxes and at the same time fill the coffers of the postal service; or bulk-mailers will cut way back on the amount of stuff they're sending because it's too freakin' expensive.

Either way, it seems to me that the consumer would come out ahead.

On the plus side, I'm told that the USPS has come out with something called the Forever Stamp, which sounds like something out of a Jack Kirby comic book but in fact is a stamp that will cost you $0.41 today but will be good, well, forever. In other words, "if" first-class mail goes up again in a year or two, you can still use your Forever Stamps without having to buy two-, three-, or four-cent stamps to even out the postage difference. I suppose this is a good way for the post office to raise ready cash: If a person sent a lot of first-class mail it might be smart to shell out $410.00 today for 1,000 Forever Stamps that would last several years. Back in my full-time freelancing days, when I was sending out a lot of query letters and other pitches all the time (pre-e-mail, this was), I might have been tempted to do so for precisely that reason.

But not today. Today I'm tempted to take up all those come-ons I get to sign up for online bill-paying.

Yes, I suppose that makes me part of the problem. But as I near as I can tell, everyone--no matter what he or she does--causes postage rates to go up.