I might just be too dumb to get this but...can someone please explain this to me? How can it not be a good idea to buy forever stamps?????? *scratches head in confusion*
Basically, the stamp is worth 41 cents now. If you go and buy a wad of them, and then save them for ten years, you'll theoretically lose money. In the future the cost of stamps will go up, yes, but the cost hikes will be slower than inflation - meaning that the stamp cost 41 cents in today's dollars, but might be worth 46 cents in next decade's dollars. The example they gave was the 20 cent stamp in 1981 - if you account for inflation and all that, the same stamp would cost you 45 cents today. So buying a bunch and hording them for the future isn't really profitable at all. They're useful if you don't want to have to worry or diddle with the little 2 cent make-up stamps in the future, but that's all really.
I think it'll be nice to have a pack around the house, yes, but the article was more about "Don't buy $1000 worth of these stamps as an investment against the future" sort of thing.
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timeasmymeasure
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