MMeM, Vol.12 Issue 12 – Forever

Today, for the first time in 97 years the price of a U.S. stamp goes down. It’s true, but it’s also such a false-sliding-smoke-and-mirrors kind of price drop. Nonetheless, today the price of a U.S. stamp officially goes from $.49 to $.47.

In short, a 3 cent special price increase authorized by congress in 2014 for 2 years has expired and the post office got to beg and keep 1 penny of the increase to ease the $2 Billion it loses every year. Of course this begs SO many questions like why? Why does it take an act of congress to raise the price of a freaking stamp for the post office when it is losing so much money delivering so much junk mail?

However, this may well have been the sinister secret behind the launch of the lauded “Forever” stamp a few years ago. I remember thinking, how on Earth can any business launch a product at once price that will always be good even when the price of the good continues to rise along side it? Well, today, the Forever stamp gets its first defibrillator exercise in 97 years and technically stays Forever alive for another $.02. WAH-LAH!

I’m a fan of the post office and I always have been. I can’t really explain why exactly, but it’s just some core part of Americana I guess for me.

Consequently, it is fraught with a myriad of questions, confusion, irony, and dysfunction. It’s truly American through and through.