The Post Office and its Dark Practices

If the Post Office raises the price of stamps from 39 to 41 cents, and each American owns 3 leftover stamps; meaning they have to buy 3 two cent stamps, the Post Office gains $18 million. Is it fair that the older stamp is no longer sufficient to deliver the mail? Some would argue that the stamp itself is not a guarantee of delivery but rather a certificate for 39 cents worth of “post office goodness”, and if the expense to deliver goes up, your stamp’s value is no longer sufficient. And if they are real clever they explain that the old 39 cent stamp is just like a $50 WalMart gift card where the wanted item increased in price from $45 to $55, and now the card (just like the stamp) is no longer adequate. Allow me to point out the folly in these arguments…

If I walk up to the P.O. counter and hand them my mail they will charge me 41 cents and mail it. If I walk up to the counter and ask for one stamp they will charge me 41 cents and do nothing…until later. They get their sufficient, real-time delivery payment either way. Furthermore, it is a likelihood that the funds the P.O. receives from stamps that haven’t been used yet are modestly invested until they are needed to compensate delivery expenses (if not shame on them). We’ll assume that under normal circumstances Americans maintain possession of 8 stamps for a month. If the P.O. receives a 0.5% return for 39 cent stamps held for that month, they gain about $4.7 million. That’s $56.4 million a year. I believe this covers the additional expense of the mailman having to put some mail back into his bag when he already had his paws in my mailbox anyway.

Stamps have one function. You can’t use your stamp to buy other post office stuff such as document envelopes and packaging tape. Likewise you can’t get the delivery service any other way than by buying a stamp. (Yes, there are other ways but normal people aren’t going to use them.) So in the case of the $50 WalMart card, if you really want a $45 dollar item, you simply buy the item instead of a gift card. (Painfully simple, I know.) To get your mail delivered is there really any other acceptable option outside of stamps?

Some years ago, when the postage rate was 34 cents, I found a book of really old 17 cent stamps. (I often wondered what the mailman thought when he saw two 17 cent stamps on an envelope.) The point is that just one of those stamps still should have been adequate. What did they do with the money for the original purchase? How much interest do they get off of instances like that? They really think we all owe them another 2 cents per stamp? I cry foul!

It is said that dogs have a sixth sense. Perhaps they sense the evil of the post office and because of this they aim their wrath at the mail carriers.