The U.S. Postal Service Has Announced New Prices for 2019

cageymaru

cageymaru

Fully [H]
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Messages
22,077
The U.S. Postal Service has announced new prices for services starting January 27, 2019. These were approved by the Governors of the Postal Service and represent a 2.5% price hike on Mailing Services. They still need to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). I wonder if this means that Amazon Prime memberships will see a price increase?

The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter mail postage rates in the industrialized world and also continues to offer a great value in shipping. Unlike some other shippers, the Postal Service does not add surcharges for fuel, residential delivery, or regular Saturday or holiday season delivery.
 
I would be fine with only a less than 2.5% increase (since not all goes through USPS) in prime next year. But likely it will be more like $25 increase
 
This is for normal, not commercial use. Amazon has it's own contracts and prices with USPS and other shippers, they also in most cases only use USPS for last mile, while Amazon or UPS etc does the hub to hub transport. Amazon has also been moving more and more to it's own last mile service.
 
Exavior said:
to bad nobody under the age of 35 knows what a stamp is, what they are used for or where to buy them.
Click to expand...
Talking with my nieces and nephews that are elementary to middle school grades say they were never taught how to write or address a letter. Nor how to wright a check. Just another thing going out the window like cursive writing.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Madoc
like this
vegeta535 said:
Talking with my nieces and nephews that are elementary to middle school grades say they were never taught how to right or address a letter. Nor how to wright a check. Just another thing going out the window like cursive writing.
Click to expand...


Right. Wright.

Just another thing going out the window like Cursive Writing (this is good) and proper spelling? lol.
 
Arcygenical said:
Right. Wright.

Just another thing going out the window like Cursive Writing (this is good) and proper spelling? lol.
Click to expand...

I very rarely write in cursive anymore.. Usually only when signing a check. Everything else gets written in my own blend of printing with a hint of cursive.

When written properly, cursive can be very pretty looking. Back in grade school, high school, and college, I used to do the fancy loops and made sure everything flowed and looked really nice.

Cursive was peddled as being faster than printing, but it really isn't.
 
I ordered a part from an eBay seller recently, should have taken 3 days max to get to me from California to Missouri, it ended up taking 17 days and boy was I pissed about it. I've had numerous situations where the delivery was marked as delivered and yet wasn't at my door or in my mailbox and the driver had come by to drop off the mail but packages were held back for a later time in the day - I don't get why this person does things this way but my numerous complaints might have cost them their job over it since I've got a new person on the route now.

Everything gets more expensive and yet the value of the actual money decreases, I'll never figure that bullshit out.
 
Bigdady92 said:
Amazon stopped using the post office for tons of deliveries around my area. They have their own trucks now.
Click to expand...
In my area, giving the package to a homeless person would be more likely to result in a good delivery than the US postal service. At least the homeless person might have a small level of motivation for a tip or whatever. :(
 
Madoc said:
USPS needs to charge more for junk mail - much, much more.
Click to expand...

This!

95% of my mail either goes in the trash or shredder. The remaining 5% is a catalog i browse then trash.

I would rather pay more to send bills (that dont have online or phone pay) than deal with all this junk advertisements.
 
The USPS keeps raising prices because they claim people are using them less. Has it never occurred to them that maybe if they weren't constantly raising prices more people would use them? o_O
 
And they all laughed at me when I bought Forever Stamps 15 years ago... ha ha ha ha haaaa....

In all seriousness, the only things that come in the mail are junk and bills... that's why I only get my mail once every two weeks...

Same goes for actual phone calls. Unless you're in my contact list, I'm blocking your number if you call me.
 
Madoc said:
USPS needs to charge more for junk mail - much, much more.
Click to expand...

You do realize that like 90% of usps business is 3-6 junkmail houses right? They could care less about delivering civilian mail or bills. All their profits are in spamming your real mailbox.
 
cyclone3d said:
I very rarely write in cursive anymore.. Usually only when signing a check. Everything else gets written in my own blend of printing with a hint of cursive.

When written properly, cursive can be very pretty looking. Back in grade school, high school, and college, I used to do the fancy loops and made sure everything flowed and looked really nice.

Cursive was peddled as being faster than printing, but it really isn't.
Click to expand...

Cursive was really only important back when ink could and would readily drip off of the nib when the quill pen was lifted off the page. Being able to have the nib maintain contact with the paper reduced blots, drops, and spills.
 
I go to the post office on a fairly regular basis because I sell stuff online and the bigger USPS priority flat rate boxes won't fit in my mailbox. I walk in, drop it off on top of the mountain of other packages, and walk out. Meanwhile the 50 senior citizens and foreigners in line look at me all crazy because I skipped the line. The place is a total dump, half the stuff in there doesn't work, is taped off/closed with crude hand written signs (the APC machine is a joke, it never works). The 2 half asleep employees who work there look like they are on Thorazine and counting the seconds until retirement.

I think my solution is... a bigger mailbox so I can skip that shit?

As far as stamps... yeah, it's checks to the lawn service guy, and birthday cards. Oh, mail in rebate forms. That's it. A 20 pack of stamps (get them at the store when you check out, dummies!) will last me 6+ months.

edit - I agree that 80% of the "mail" in my physical mailbox is catalogs I don't want and flyers. We pay 98% of our bills online. Every time I see the Mrs writing a check or looking for a stamp, I sit her down in front of her laptop and make her do it online.
 
piratepress said:
The USPS keeps raising prices because they claim people are using them less. Has it never occurred to them that maybe if they weren't constantly raising prices more people would use them? o_O
Click to expand...

People use the USPS less because of the internet. I don't have a source on that, but I grew up in the 90s and I think it's pretty obvious. I used to order books on Amazon and mail them a check and it took two weeks to arrive instead of days. As late as 2003, most people still didn't feel safe using a credit card on the internet. You checked your statements carefully a month after ordering something online to be sure there were no strange charges.

The internet changed the communication methods and now the postal service just drops off grocery store flyers, credit apps, and the occasional bubble mailer with a USB cord from Amazon. They have to raise prices because they are providing a service where the volume has dropped, but they still have to maintain a the same vast infrastructure. A human visits your house (almost) every single day and they do this to nearly every address in the country.
 
$7.90 for a small flat rate box? This shit is getting too expensive...when they started just a few years ago it was like $5 something...got me checking out UPS and FedEx at this point.
 
Mut1ny said:
$7.90 for a small flat rate box? This shit is getting too expensive...when they started just a few years ago it was like $5 something...got me checking out UPS and FedEx at this point.
Click to expand...

Its more of convenience than anything. Fedex / UPS are a fucking pain to deal with. The whole "we estimate and bill you next month" thing for a small package is dumb. First Class Mail will be affected by this which is bad. I ship most of my small items there for $5 or less. UPS/Fedex are slow in comparison and tend to have more issues for me. For big items that don't fit flat rate boxes I tend to use UPS/Fedex because USPS ground shipping prices aren't that good. But I dread every time I have to use them. USPS is simple Enter weight/dimensions, pick your service, pay, drop off. Done.
 
Straying off topic, but...

Writing and printing are not the same. Sometimes things must be written, not printed. Signatures, for example. I think it's important that everyone be able to read written documents, and I think they should be able to at least struggle through writing in a pinch. 10 years of study? Maybe not. But...some.
 
vegeta535 said:
Talking with my nieces and nephews that are elementary to middle school grades say they were never taught how to write or address a letter. Nor how to wright a check. Just another thing going out the window like cursive writing.
Click to expand...

Wow.
 
Mut1ny said:
$7.90 for a small flat rate box? This shit is getting too expensive...when they started just a few years ago it was like $5 something...got me checking out UPS and FedEx at this point.
Click to expand...

Fed Ex is expensive too. Shipped a package the other day to NJ, weight was about a pound 13x7, cost me 15 dollars the cheapest way possible! :punch:
 
USPS for me is typically much cheaper than UPS or Fed Ex by a long shot. Even with these price increases, I'll still ship through them. Although, I wish their customer service were better.
 
cyclone3d said:
I very rarely write in cursive anymore.. Usually only when signing a check. Everything else gets written in my own blend of printing with a hint of cursive.

When written properly, cursive can be very pretty looking. Back in grade school, high school, and college, I used to do the fancy loops and made sure everything flowed and looked really nice.

Cursive was peddled as being faster than printing, but it really isn't.
Click to expand...
It's faster because you only really pick up your writing instrument between words. But IMHO typing is both more legible & waaaay faster....
 
/dev/null said:
It's faster because you only really pick up your writing instrument between words. But IMHO typing is both more legible & waaaay faster....
Click to expand...

Yeah I can type as fast or faster than I can legibly write. My cursive went out the window in Jr high. Now I'm the chicken scratch standard block guy. I can read my own scribble but no one else can.. if I'm writing a hand written letter (or a card, grocery list, etc) I have to go really slow and focus to make it legible to where even the Mrs can read it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top