Gratuitous postcard: USPS offers a shockingly big deal

Okay, so it's not shocking, but it's still a big deal. Even though the postal service is going to increase their rate for a first-class stamp this summer from 39 to 41 cents, the big-ticket deals are coming down, especially for those of us who have no restraint and send great honking epistles to those who put up with us. The heavier letters will have a decrease in the add-on costs for "overweight" letters.

So, in the world of letter-sending, it pays to be a little tubby, I guess.

More interesting still, the USPS is introducing a "forever" stamp, which, if you go spend all your cash in May when they release these stamps and stock up on them, will be good for a standard letter, no matter how often or how much the rate increases in the future. I think I'll seriously consider hoarding a batch for when I have to send out my wedding invitations or my funeral announcements (more likely sooner than the wedding).

Of course, the way I keep my records and my office supplies, I'll have invested in a coupla hundred of the little blighters, only to have no clue the next day where I stashed them. Or, I'll end up trading them for a handful of magic beans. Some of us are like that.

Still, it's an interesting way to get people to invest in the future of hard copy communications.

This calls for a postcard. Maybe I'll even send one via USPS, this week.
Nah. This'll do.

new and shocking