It never fails...

Have you ever noticed how, as soon as you buy something, the price goes down? How does that happen? Cars, cameras, suits (does anyone buy suits, anymore?), TVs....

Now it's stamps. The USPS has announced that all First Class stamps will be Forever stamps. OK, the price didn't go down, but the value did go up.

And who just bought First Class stamps today?

Yes, all First Class stamps issued in 2011 will be Forever stamps. Not the ones issued in 2010. So what will the Post Office do with all the old stamps? You know, the ones already in the stamp drawers that the clerks will try to sell to customers at the counters?

Come on, Postmaster General. Just make it all First Class stamps, not just the ones issued in 2011.

From an article today in the Daily Herald, "The initial first-class stamp under the new policy will be the Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit stamp, to be issued Jan. 22. It will be followed by stamps commemorating Kansas statehood on Jan. 29 and, in February, the centennial of President Ronald Reagan's birth."

So, when you step up to the window in January, don't let the stamp clerk palm off "old" stamps on you. Insist on the new ones.

Stamp prices going up

The United States Postal Service just doesn't get it.

Stamp prices are going up in May. First Class postage for one ounce will increase from $.42 to $.44. What will this mean?

Fewer people will send mail. More will use e-mail.

Stupid. Really stupid.

The USPS needs to examine its payroll. I recall, even today, being outraged to learn in 1989 in Santa Fe that a postal counter clerk earned $35,000/year. And that was almost 20 years ago! And that guy was stoned. And they couldn't fire him, because of the strong union!!!

Maybe the Post Office ought to be figuring out how to attract customers, not drive them away.

If the public really knew about the wages of USPS employees, we'd probably stop using USPS completely!

Does anyone know the wage scale of carriers, counter clerks, local management?