Well, the joke's on you USPS! You started offering the forever stamp which costs as much as today's first-class stamp (41 cents), but will continue to work for first-class mail even as rates increase! So why would I bother getting any 41-cent stamps at all? In fact, I'll even be like this guy and buy $8000 worth of forever stamps so every time you raise postage rates I benefit because I got the stamps for less!
Should we all be stocking up [on forever stamps]?It should also be noted that just because your stamp doesn't have the number of cents listed doesn't automatically make it a forever stamp. It has to say "Forever" on it. There's non-denominated stamps (here's a page with pictures of them and how much each is worth) that say "First Class" and come out when they know there will be a rate increase but don't know how much yet. These stamps will not be enough when the rate goes up.
Absolutely not. Since 1971, postal rates have increased more slowly than the actual inflation rate, as measured by the U.S. Consumer Price Index. So, despite the numerous rate hikes over the last 36 years, stamps have actually been getting cheaper. The 20-cent stamp from 1981, for instance, would be equivalent to 45 cents in today's dollars-which makes today's rate 10 percent cheaper than it was 26 years ago. Should this historical pattern hold, you'd be paying more for today's forever stamps than you would for any stamp in the future, no matter how high the rate goes.
In fact, this pattern must hold - as a matter of law. In December, President Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which ensures that future price increases will be kept below an inflation-based ceiling. In other words, postage hikes will never surpass inflation - and the forever stamp will never become a good investment. Incidentally, the USPS announced the introduction of the forever stamp less than two months after Bush signed the act into law.
