Yes. That groaning sound you hear are penpals around the U.S. realizing that it will now cost another 2 cents to continue snailmailing their letters starting today May 11.
I know, I know. Who mails first class letters any more? Whether it’s texting (an abomination, IMHO), emailing (necessary evil, I’d guess) or e-cards (fricking cheapskates) - no one writes real letters anymore. I haven’t received an actual postcard in ages. As for paying bills, we gave that up years ago - online bill paying saves millions of stamps. I wonder if young kids will even learn what a penpal is. Doubtless they will confuse it with Paypal…
Actually, in 8th grade I remember we were coerced into this weird anonymous “penpal” program where we were matched up with kids in a younger grade. I remember I chose the unfortunate pseudonym of “The Big Cheese”. After the initial missives back and forth, it was clear that my penpal thought I was either a hungry lab rat or Donald Trump.
Hmm…
Source: USPS site
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May 12th, 2009 at 7:43 am
I meant to use up my last Christmas stamp before this, oh well. I think that I still have Christmas stamps in May shows how few stamps I use. I have to make my car payment by mail since it’s through a credit union and I don’t think they’ll let me pay it online, and occasionally I write my older relatives who don’t have e-mail.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:53 am
@holly - yeah, we have a couple bills we can’t pay online. Other than that, it’s just xmas cards and letters. Did you get any “Forever” stamps? I still have a book of those - not sure if it was such a great “investment” though, haha!
May 12th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I like the “Forever” stamps, though they seem to be more about avoiding the hassle of buying 1 or 2 cent stamps than actually saving any money. Last time I bought stamps was at the grocery store, and they only had Christmas stamps, so that’s what I got. I was joking with my friend the other day, he said I should write to everyone I know before the price went up and say “I’m just writing to say that I don’t want these stamps anymore.”
May 15th, 2009 at 11:36 am
This is so sad. Oddly, I still send snail mail. I’ll have to get some of the forever ones, so I don’t have to keep fishing out the piles of 37 cent stamps and supplementing them w/ extra stamps (don’t ask - it’s embarrassing how I wound up with piles of these).