While you’re out purchasing postage stamps for your Christmas cards this year, you may want to think about stocking up on those forever stamps.
As of January 22, 2012 First Class Mail letter (1 oz.) will increase by 1-cent to 45 cents and postcards will follow with a 3-cent increase to 32 cents. Letters to Canada or Mexico will jump 5 cents to 85 cents and letters to other international destinations will increase 7 cents to $1.05. A more detailed outline of postal increases can be found here.
Now, if you’re an online bill payer and Evite advocate for your party planning you may not be phased by a penny here and there to mail an occasional envelope. But if you’re getting married next year (like me!) for example, and you’re going to have save-the-dates, invitations, response cards and thank you letters to send, 1-cent can start to add up. Or if you’re planning your company’s 2012 marketing budget, you may want to look into how this increase could effect your mailing costs.
Just another reason for all of us to start thinking more about going “green” and reducing our carbon footprint – email and online banking seems to be the direction the world is moving towards…but for some things, I think there’s still something to be said for the traditional postal method. What do you think?
