Postage Rates

OK, so some of you who read news headlines this week heard about the plan for the USPS to raise postage rates early next year. The new rate would be 44 cents for a first class stamp. Here is something everyone can attest to and each person has their own comment that begins with "I remember when the price of a stamp was..." and how you end that statement says a lot about your age and whether you ever really even use stamps for anything.

I remember when stamps were 29 cents (1991-1995), which is my statement though I was even more familiar with the 32 cent rate (1995-1999) because I worked in a postal substation during that period.

Here is a link to the history of US postage rates. I found it interesting that rates actually decreased from 1863-1885 and again between 1917-1932.

Postage was a dime or less until 1975 and though rate increases have increased in frequency in the last decade with 7 increases since 2000 (the next one will be #8) the 70s (5) and 80s (4) also had several increases as well.

While I was looking up information for this post I found many pictures of early stamps here and they often looked more like our current US currency, with generally presidents (like the first pic on this post) on the stamps. Now just looking at the stamps I have collected and taped to my computer monitor I have cartoon (Simpsons) and comics (Superman, Flash) characters, celebrities (Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper), animals (ram, birds, mtn lion), state flags and even a Jury Duty stamp! One of the more famous modern stamps is the Breas Cancer Research stamp where the additional cost above the current postage rate is donated to breast cancer research.

There are even more available here for people to buy and use or collect!