Should You Stockpile Postage Stamps?

The United States Postal Service will once again raise postal rates on first class mail from 42 cents to 44 cents per ounce on May 11.

This may have some frugal folks racing to the post office to stock up on Forever Stamps.

The stamps, which feature the Liberty Bell on them, will cover the cost of mailing one ounce of mail in the United States, regardless of what you paid for it. So if you buy a Forever Stamp today at a cost of 42 cents, it will still work for mailing a letter years from now when postage is 79 cents per ounce. The idea is to eliminate the hassle of those 1 and 2-cent stamps you need every time the postal rate changes.

But is this a wise move for your money? Should you stockpile stamps?

According to the United States Postal Service, under the new May 11 postal rates, the average USPS customer will spend an additional $3 a year. That’s not a huge increase. Unfortunately, with the USPS struggling to break even, this won’t be the last increase we see. We could see more increases soon.

But it seems to me that in these markets, having your money in cash is a lot more useful than having it in stamps. And if the USPS continues to make changes, what is to say they couldn’t make changes to the Forever Stamp? Then you wouldn’t realize any savings.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m sticking to savings, not stamps.