Not strictly travel related -- unless you're visiting the US from a foreign country and want to mail a postcard home ...

Since I didn't know about this until I had lunch with my brother (the mailman) the other day, I thought there might be others who'd missed it, too.

US Postal Service announcment

Good reminder Colleen. I didn't know about a hike in postage until the other day at the post office and I wanted a roll of stamps. The nice man behind the window suggested I buy 100 "forevers" instead. Now I think I should have bought more. Barb Cabot

It is only going up a penny on first class letters. Considering that I saw gas jump 9 cents yesterday it means that the post office will run in the red for the entire year. The people who are really getting slammed are bulk mail and business reply.

A great tip for those of your visiting the USA is check out our flat rate boxes. You can ship packages home for significantly less.

A roll of stamps saves you $1 over the course of the next year. Yes, stamps will probably go up again next year but you can still get a better rate of return by buying a can of tuna.

Mary,
The penny increase is not the issue for me ...

I raised the topic for people like me who have books of 41 cent stamps at home, and will need a supply of 1 cent stamps to meet the new letter rate. I know I don't keep them around, so it'll mean a trip to the post office ...

Hi Colleen,

Thank you very much for the reminder. I am one of those people who thinks postage stamps still costs 39c. I need to go to the post office (for sure ) to buy the penny ones to go with my OLD stamps.

By the way, didn't somebody say sometime ago "A penny saved is a penny earned"?

Sorry I didn't mean to jump down anybody's throat. It is just that I have been dealing with customers complaining about a 1 cent increase for the past 2 weeks!!

If we increased stamps the way that gas went up we would be charging 65 cents or more. And those books of stamps? If they have the brown liberty bell on them they are the forever stamps. No need to buy the additional one cent.

I'm one of those who firmly believes that 41 cents for the delivery of a first-class letter is a fantastic bargain! Thank you USPS.

US postage is strong against the Euro! I wonder if we can pay for our gite in stamps?