I guess everyone knows by now that postage rates went up on January 8. From various news reports, there was evidently a run on one and two cent stamps during the days leading up to the new rate going into effect.
As luck would have it, the rate change caught me with a half roll of 37 cent stamps and several pre-stamped postcards. A day or two after the rate increase went into effect, I managed to buy a dozen two cents stamps, but the post office didn’t have any penny stamps. No big deal, or so I thought.
Two weeks later, I found myself at the post office in the evening and decided to at least get a few postcard stamps from the machine. Even two weeks into the new rates, the only stamps the machine had – for letters or postcards – were the old demoninations. The displays in the machine had notes next to them saying that the stamps required additional postage and even listed how much. But there was no way to buy the additional postage!
Finally, in a stroke of what I briefly mistook for genius, I visited the Post Office web site and learned that I could buy the stamps online, and for the same price you’d pay at the post office. Only thing is, if you buy stamps online, they charge you for postage!
I’ve been buying stamps by mail for the past several years – just fill out a form, write a check, and stick it in the outgoing mail, the stamps are delivered a few days later. No waiting in line and no extra charge. Not even postage.
So I got clever again. I sent in a Stamps by Mail form, but instead of ordering any of the stamps listed (all at the old rates), I wrote in an order for the stamps I needed. While I was at it, I also ordered ten 24 cent stamps for my next batch of postcards.
The stamps arrived today. But instead of my 24 cent stamps, they sent 23 cent stamps and an equal number of 1 cent stamps.
Evidently the Post Office can’t find the new stamps either!