Put On Your Thinking Cap!

Of the 20 billion stamps that were made in the US last year how many do you think went to pay bills? I think it is at least half or 10 billion.
Tom

I do not know about that- I know I only write 6 or 7 checks a year and all my bills/statements are sent to me online and paid by me online but I use a lot of stamps for packages,special ervices,cards, few letters etc.

People still pay bills by mail? I have all my bills set up to be paid over the internet, save something like $20/month on having paper bills printed and mailed out to me by the various companies.

My guess is the majority of people my age (I'm 42) and younger pay bills that way, and a fair proportion of those older than I do as well.

I'd hazard maybe 10-15% of total US stamp production goes to people using them to pay bills.

I think half is too high an estimate. I pay all my monthly bills online, mostly with auto-pay. I'm with acanalizo; I only pay 6 or 7 bills a year through the mail. I do think the average person pays more bills than me by mail though. I'm thinking only about 25 to 35 percent of stamps made in the US last year were used to pay bills. I think more were used for greeting cards (think Christmas) and ebay sales (combined). Many people who hoarded stamps in the 1980s through the 2000s (me) are disposing of them on mail now.

as long as nothing goes wrong auto pay is great. You dont have to remember to pay.

I am from a generation that likes the old way. Write a check, mail it. No computer hacking, no unauthorized getting into an account, no hassle in cancelling 'auto-pays'. I get my bank statement online only because the bank was going to charge a fee for a monthly hardcopy. The 'data' industry is changing every day, the hackers are changing just as fast. I cannot remember when I had a problem with the USPS delivery system. The number of pieces processed on a daily basis says that many still utilize the mail to conduct commercial business (not just paying bills).

When I do pay by check, it is by going to the bank's website, and ordering them to send a check, which they do for free.

They do not put a stamp on it AFAIK.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I pay most of my bills by check. I tried at least a couple electronically, but the costs of doing it online ($1 for one; something like $3.99 for another) were much higher than using a stamp.

The largest single usage for stamps is Greeting Cards! Birthdays, Valetine Day, Christmas, Congratulations!

Most advertizers have permits now and don't need stamps!

Keep the responses coming. Another thought is how many of the 20 billion stamps were presorted?

It is doubtful that such big usages would make new issues more valuable or scarcer.

I'd be more curious about the % of that 20 bill that were destroyed.

As far as actual usage is concerned, I wager bill payment isn't even 1/4.

These were sold stamps. I still think there are a lot of people paying bills the old fashion way.
Tom