We want to give you a heads up that postage rates are increasing on July 14, 2024. Here's a sneak peek at the new rates:
Since Forever stamps maintain their value "forever", stocking up now could save you some money.
If it feels like postage prices are rising more frequently, you'd be correct. In fact, during the entire 20th century, the price of a First-Class stamp increased 17 times. In just 24 years into the 21st century, it has gone up 18 times!
While we miss the days when stamps were less than a dime, a little context might be helpful.
Due to inflation, a 73-cent stamp today holds a similar value to a 3-cent stamp back in 1917, and a 13-cent stamp in 1975.
As a quick review—inflation reduces the purchasing power of money. Over time, the same amount of money buys less due to the erosion of value caused by inflation. As a result, your money is worth less today than it was yesterday.
Just for fun, I crunched the numbers on each postage increase and adjusted the prices for inflation using OfficalData.org’s CPI Inflation Calculator.
Here's a visual breakdown:
While the USPS raises their rates to generally keep up with inflation, I was curious what effect inflation had on our postcard prices. Here are my findings:
Due to inflation, we are earning 28¢ less per postcard in 2024 than when we started in 2017.
We've made every effort to keep our prices below the magical $1.00 price point. But at this rate, I'm wondering if this is no longer sustainable?
We may need to consider increasing our postcard prices in order to stay in business for the long haul? But will our customers be willing to pay $1.25/postcard?