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Rollback!

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

Can you remember the last time the rate to mail a letter in the U-S went DOWN? Me, neither.
It was 1919.

18 months ago, the U-S Postal Service got a temporary 3-cent emergency increase, because of
losses during the Recession. The key word was “temporary,” although the Postal Service wants
to make it permanent. Now a federal appeals court is saying it’s time to go back to
46 cents... sometime this summer.

The Postal Service says it can’t afford that.

Professional mailers are rejoicing; they never wanted the rate hike. Stamp collectors are
wary.

Those Forever stamps you’ve been buying at 49 cents could soon be worth only 46 cents. If
all you do with them is mail a letter or put them in an album, it really doesn’t make a
difference.

But if you purchased a large number of Forever stamps, perhaps as a hedge against eventual
rate hikes, or because you had to buy 20 to get one for your collection... you’re going to
lose 6 percent on your investment.

Now, it’s not a done deal. The Postal Service may fight it. Stay tuned.

I’m Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
and postal rates, visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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