When is "forever" not forever? Postage Stamp Question

[Villages PL]

Would it be possible for the U.S. Postal Service to eventually declare bankruptcy? I would assume it is possible. If so, wouldn't the "forever stamps" become useless? Unused stamps represent debt, right? When we buy "forever" stamps it's like we are loaning them money.

I'm just wondering if it's really a good idea to stock-up on forever stamps.

:what:

[CaptJohn]

What if they are still good but the price collapses like the real estate market, say to 20 cents? Then it will cost twice as much as everyone else to mail a letter. :laugh: I have hedged the market: have some but not too many!

[HMLRHT1]

They r worth what the current postage rate is at the time u go to use it. So if u bought them when they r 44 cents and they go up to 45 cents that is what they r worth. Same if the postage decreases. If the PO goes out of business, well I think there will be bigger concerns to worry about. Like maybe paying FedEx or UPS $12 just to mail a letter to NYC.

[jblum315]

Bring back the Pony Express!!

[mulligan]

Buy postage as you need it online.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Who uses postage. Just pay all your bills electronically and use email for everything else. All the different ways to communicate and pay your bills are at least part of the problem with the post office. As the baby boomers and older generation go on to their great reward the issues for the post office will become more pronouced. i wouldn't buy anymore postage than you will use in the next year or so.

[EdV]

Before they offered the forever stamps, you would buy a book of stamps and then in a year or two they would raise the price of the stamps and you had to run down to the PO and buy enough make up stamps to cover the unused stamps that you still had. What a waste of time.

Buy and use the forever stamps for what they are. A modern convenience.

[Cantwaittoarrive]

Don't forget the world ends on the 21st of Dec this year so if you have purchased more than you need for the next week you have wasted your money

[Quixote]

They r worth what the current postage rate is at the time u go to use it. So if u bought them when they r 44 cents and they go up to 45 cents that is what they r worth. Same if the postage decreases. If the PO goes out of business, well I think there will be bigger concerns to worry about. Like maybe paying FedEx or UPS $12 just to mail a letter to NYC.

This is what folks who criticize the Postal Service as a “government program failure” (which is no longer strictly a governmental operation) choose to overlook: the incredible bargain we get using the service. Sure FedEx and UPS are very successful companies. However, using the Postal Service, for the same 45 cents we can send a letter down the road OR to the end of the Road to Hana in Maui OR to a remote community in Alaska requiring snow machine or bush pilot or both! What would it cost us to use a for-profit company for the same service?...

Our son mailed a small gift package within Vancouver Island (Canada) a distance of about 90 miles, and it cost him more to do so than for us to mail a large package to him in Vancouver Island from Florida. We should be paying more appropriate rates for the service we get! And that might give us a Postal Service that would be less of a financial failure. Incredible the complaints when first class postage goes up a penny!

[Bogie Shooter]

Funny, I never considered stamp buying as an investment.....that I could win or lose .