Happy New Year: Postage To Go Up A Penney In 2012

The postal business is going into debt fast and they are passing the costs on to us; the consumer. Get ready next year will be no exception as it has been approved to raise the postal rate by another penny.

Starting January 22, 2012 it will cost you 45 cents to mail a standard letter. Surprisingly it's been 2 years since the last price hike.

In the fiscal year of 2010 the US Postal Service (USPS) lost around $8 billion dollars in revenue. This one cent price hike next January is expected to bring in an extra $8-9 billion.

There will also be price hikes in other mailing areas as well. A 3 cent hike for postcards, which means it will now be 32 cents just for a postcard. As for international mail it will go up 5 cents for mail to Mexico and Canada and up 7 cents to other countries. This means it will now cost 85 cents for Mexico and Canada and $1.05 to mail to other countries.

This is kind of a double edge sword. With more "paperless" billing and e-payments this cuts back on the need for consumers to buy stamps and use the USPS and then that in turn means that they have to raise prices to keep up with the expenses that they do have. It's a vicious cycle.

I still use the mail for most of my bills it's only costing me maybe $2.00 a month to mail my bills so it's not that big of a deal I guess. However, it does get expensive for business who still use the old fashioned snail mail, that could get expensive and those are the folks that will feel it the most.