Postal rates go up January 22 and the post office is being pretty quiet about it.  Perhaps so that you don’t go out and stock up on forever stamps.  Perhaps because nobody mails anything anymore so people don’t care.  Details on the USPS web site

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 22, 2012, include:

Letters (1 oz.) – 1-cent increase to 45 cents

Letters additional ounces – unchanged at 20 cents

Postcards – 3-cent increase to 32 cents

Letters to Canada or Mexico (1 oz.) – 5-cent increase to 85 cents.

Letters to other international destinations – 7-cent increase to $1.05

This is not going to solve the post offices deficit problem.  Part of their agreement with the Federal Govt is that in exchange for the first class mail monopoly they cannot increase prices more than inflation and they can’t cut service.  Of course this formula won’t work as the volume shrinks because of email and the internet. Governments resistance to new technologies and the changes that they cause tend to exacerbate the problems.  Please let old things die or change.  Unfortunately:

The USPS is the Amtrak of our children’s generation.