Is A US 49-Cent "Forever" Stamp Coming?

According to this news article posted today, the USPS will try to get a 2014 first class stamp increased from 46 cents to 49 cents (2 cent increase and 1 cent inflation adjustment) which comes out to about a 6% increase. Additionally, other postage rates are likely to increase as well, especially for mailers of magazines and print publications:

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-mon...obbyists-say

Personally, I think they should round off the first class stamp to an even 50 cents and avoid the pennies.

What do you think?

I save pennies or rather look to get copper back in change. Thus the 49 cent helps in this process for my coin hobby. I support the 49 over 50 any day.

As a Canadian, it's interesting to see the cost difference of standard things between our two countries. We currently pay $6.00 for a gallon of regular gasoline and 71 cents (63 cents face value plus 13% tax) for a single domestic use letter rate postage stamp. Our Canadian dollar bounces around par with your American dollar. We had a 46 cent postage rate 1999 through 2001, a 49 cent rate throughout 2004 and a 50 cent rate for 2005.

Undoubtedly you're paying more in Canada, but what about the gallon of gasoline? Isn't the Canadian standard still Imperial gallons versus US gallons, which would have to enter into the equation.

I think they are just trying to come up with more revenue. It's no secret that the USPS is hurting. If they have to raise the cost of a stamp to stay in business, that's fine by me.

I like the idea of going to an even 50 cents, just to make things easier. But they most likely want to raise it by as little as possible.

By the way, I wonder how one becomes a greeting card association lobbyist?

Yes wt1, you're correct. At 1 us gallon to 0,8327 imperial, my $6.00 becomes $5.00.

I do love crossing the border and paying only $4.00 per USA gallon for the same gas I pay $6.00 for one imperial gallon back home.

If rounding to 50 cents is to make it easier to calculate multiples, don't bother. They're going to raise to 52 cents in a couple of years anyway.

Cheers, Robert

The decision about the US postal rate increase has just been postponed until the Board of Governors Meeting on September 24-25, 2013:

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-mon...ase-decision

I feel 50 cents is going to be that psychological barrier where we get all the end of the world articles, news, hearings, etc. 49 cents is just another increase.
Won't stop organizations from misusing pre-sort meters, maybe they should start there.

"Personally, I think they should round off the first class stamp to an even 50 cents and avoid the pennies."

I can get behind that.