It’s ‘forever’ but not a hit now
It’s called the “forever stamp” -- and it might just take that long for customers to catch on to it.
Unveiled Thursday, the 41-cent stamp is eternally valid for first-class postage, regardless of how far rates climb in the future.
The American Postal Workers Union has called it “a major victory for the American people,” but few folks in the line at the post office at the Federal Building in Westwood had heard of their “victory” -- and even fewer were planning to buy the stamp.
“I heard about those ‘Star Wars’ ones,” said Devern Fleming, gesturing toward the posters featuring actor Ewan McGregor wielding a light saber in honor of the stamps that will be released in May.
Fleming goes to the post office every day for his job but felt a bit out of the loop: He didn’t know that the rate of first-class postage would be rising May 14 from 39 to 41 cents.
No ads for the forever stamp graced the walls of the post office. Even those who had heard of the new product seemed unsure of how it works.
“You can use them forever?” asked Madeleine Drake, a San Pedro resident who was mailing fliers promoting a play. “Even if the rate goes up a dollar?”
Drake bought three books of forever stamps and promptly used them on her mailing, wasting 2 cents per flier because the postage rate has not yet gone up. The forever stamps are valid now, but since they cost 41 cents, customers won’t get their full value on first-class letters until May 14, when rates rise.
Drake didn’t seem to mind: “People will be impressed when they get these. They look good.”
The stamps feature the Liberty Bell, which last appeared on a stamp issued Oct. 13, 1975, said Ken Martin, deputy director of the American Philatelic Society. That was a few months before the first-class rate rose from a dime to 13 cents an ounce.
Martin said the Postal Service was a little bit behind the times with its forever stamp because Britain has had one for more than two decades.
“Customer convenience is the No. 1 reason we’re doing this,” said Mark Saunders, a Postal Service spokesman.
The rate of postage rises along with inflation, and customers who buy the forever stamp won’t have to buy 2-cent stamps to add to their postage the next time rates rise.
Disgruntled patrons often leave pennies on post office counters to protest the inconvenience of buying 1- and 2-cent stamps, said postal clerk Nora Chester.
The price of a forever stamp will rise as postage rates do, so penny pinchers could buy a bundle now and save money when rates go up again. A law signed in December will tie rates to the consumer price index, which could lead to annual hikes.
The stamps may seem like a good investment, because rates are certain to rise, but Saunders said: “There are better places to invest your child’s college fund.”
No matter when they’re bought, forever stamps can be used, even 100 years from now.
The Postal Service has printed more than 5 billion of the new stamps, although Saunders anticipates no big rush to buy them.
For many, forever can wait till later.
“I don’t think it’s worth it to buy it now,” said Vladimir Tsikman, a rabbi waiting with his son to get a passport at a post office on Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District.
Tsikman likened the stamp to cheap gasoline -- few people will rush out and buy additional cans of gas to use just in case the prices go up, he said.
And in an age of e-mails, online bill payments and text messaging, stamps might just become as relevant as the Pony Express.
“I have too many stamps already,” said Clarence C. Saunders, a retired Westside resident who was waiting to get a passport. He says he has “drawers full” of 25- and 37-cent stamps that he doesn’t use because he e-mails everything now. “I wish I could sell them back to the post office.”
