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Post by joblackford on Jan 6, 2019 21:24:56 GMT
Heads-up to US card mailers - postage stamp rates are going up on January 27th 2019. Forever 1st class stamps cost 50 cents right now, but after Jan 27th they'll cost 55 cents each! OUCH!!
I'm going to stock up on some Christmas themed forever stamps from USPS online to save money for next year's Pea card swap.
(I posted this in the Xmas card swap thread too)
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,126 
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 6, 2019 21:56:55 GMT
Thanks for the heads up!
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Post by freeatlast on Jan 6, 2019 22:59:25 GMT
Thanks for the reminder. I need to see what's in my postage stamp stash. Is international postage going up, too?
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Post by joblackford on Jan 7, 2019 2:22:09 GMT
Is international postage going up, too? From what I see online, no! Surprisingly they're not changing. I had assumed it was an across the board increase. But actually the 2nd ounce is going to be cheaper than now, which is good news for us lumpy card makers. about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_086.htm |
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Jan 7, 2019 3:02:35 GMT
Is international postage going up, too? From what I see online, no! Surprisingly they're not changing. I had assumed it was an across the board increase. But actually the 2nd ounce is going to be cheaper than now, which is good news for us lumpy card makers. about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2018/pr18_086.htmI believe that with that second-ounce price decrease, the non-machinable surcharge is also dropping. (It and second-ounce will be 15 cents.) However, first class parcels will be shifting to zone pricing, meaning that now distance will be a factor in the rate as well as weight. The cheapest parcel rate will be between $3.66 and $4.06, depending on where it's going. |
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Post by joblackford on Jan 7, 2019 5:23:10 GMT
Eddie-n-Harley ugh, I hadn't spotted that news about parcels. Not good news for my business's bottom line... 
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Jan 7, 2019 5:52:32 GMT
Eddie-n-Harley ugh, I hadn't spotted that news about parcels. Not good news for my business's bottom line... Yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I hadn't heard about it when people first started posting about the forever rate increase. Here's a link to some releases with more info. This is a direct link to the PDF with the changes; the first class parcels are on page 7. Also, here is a link to the domestic zone calulator. You put in the first 3 of your zip; it gives you zone numbers for all other zip codes. You can also select the other tab and put in the origin and destination codes to confirm the zone. |
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Post by gmcwife1 on Jan 7, 2019 6:44:40 GMT
Thanks to your other reminder I was able to tell dh to pick up more forever stamps at Costco. Thank you!
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,126
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Post by scrapnnana on Jan 8, 2019 18:09:37 GMT
I keep forgetting. I'll need to make a trip to the post office soon. 5 cents is quite a price jump for a stamp!
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Post by joblackford on Jan 10, 2019 1:52:16 GMT
Eddie-n-Harley ugh, I hadn't spotted that news about parcels. Not good news for my business's bottom line... Yeah, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I hadn't heard about it when people first started posting about the forever rate increase. Here's a link to some releases with more info. This is a direct link to the PDF with the changes; the first class parcels are on page 7. Also, here is a link to the domestic zone calulator. You put in the first 3 of your zip; it gives you zone numbers for all other zip codes. You can also select the other tab and put in the origin and destination codes to confirm the zone. Thanks for those links! My friend and I both have Etsy businesses and we've been pushed to offer free domestic shipping, but of course that means we have to account for shipping in our prices. She was shocked to see how many of her customers are in zone 5 or above. I haven't done a proper analysis, but most of the country's population is far from me. And even the base price of 1st class packages is going up a LOT! I think my packages are going to cost about $1 more to ship ($4ish instead of $3ish). I just checked and Etsy does have some info for sellers (including that the average increase for 1st class is almost 12%) but I probably wouldn't have spotted that if I wasn't looking for it. So yeah, thanks. |
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Post by joblackford on Jan 10, 2019 1:54:42 GMT
I keep forgetting. I'll need to make a trip to the post office soon. 5 cents is quite a price jump for a stamp! If you plan to stock up a lot it might be worth ordering online. Shipping is $1.25 for orders under $50, $1.75 for over $50, but if you're buying a lot of stamps it's worth it. Or if you like to get all the cool stamps, which is my weakness! |
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on Jan 10, 2019 2:13:54 GMT
I keep forgetting. I'll need to make a trip to the post office soon. 5 cents is quite a price jump for a stamp! If you plan to stock up a lot it might be worth ordering online. Shipping is $1.25 for orders under $50, $1.75 for over $50, but if you're buying a lot of stamps it's worth it. Or if you like to get all the cool stamps, which is my weakness! The new love stamp gets released on I think the 10th, and the latest Chinese new year stamp is on the 17th, I think. I set a reminder to order some before the price increase.  (I like the Chinese new year ones for sure, undecided on the Love stamps, and I see the popsicle ones are back on the site...) |
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Post by joblackford on Jan 10, 2019 2:34:33 GMT
The new love stamp gets released on I think the 10th, and the latest Chinese new year stamp is on the 17th I pre-ordered them online! |
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(I like the Chinese new year ones for sure, undecided on the Love stamps, and I see the popsicle ones are back on the site...)