I don't know why, but when they first came out I thought they were a deal and we should have a ton of them. According to the internet, they were .41 when they were first sold in 2007. I have no idea how many I bought but I remember Vince telling me "We don't even use stamps!" Of course, we do use stamps but probably way fewer than some people.
I have them all in a zipper bag in a cabinet.
This afternoon I was upstairs waiting to eat dinner. Everything was ready but the barley still needed a bit of simmering so I started looking in the chest next to my chair upstairs. I knew our bag of stamps was up there but I had no idea how many we had so I got them all out and counted them. 227 Forever Stamps! Vince and I laughed . . we may use 10 stamps per year - more like 5 probably.
I think it costs .78 to mail a letter these days. We will save .37 on each stamp we use. That's almost an $85 savings. There's no telling how many we've used. We did use stamps more 5 or 10 years ago than we do now. I'm sure if we had invested the $$ in something besides postage stamps, we would have had a better return on our investment but . . it's kinda funny to have all those stamps.
I had to laugh, too. You do tend to stock up on things! Remember the old quilter’s or knitter’s acronym about stash accumulation: SABLE? You have “Stamp Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy”. Dot in NC
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that we have a lot that we will never use in the time we have left. I really have stopped buying most stuff. But, yes, the SABLE definitely applies in this household.
DeleteWe hardly ever use a stamp but I don't have 227 forever stamps--I do have plenty but not that many! :) :)
ReplyDeleteSunday funny! We just ran out of our Forever Stamps that were purchased in 2010. We didn’t have quit the savings as you but I dread paying the cost of stamps now.
ReplyDeleteI can't even figure out why the postal service started selling and kept selling forever stamps!
DeleteStamps that are not used are like unused gift cards; the company has your money interest free and gets to keep profits from the unredeemed gift card.
DeleteI don't agree with that. If I buy a $50 gift card from Pizza Hut and don't use it for two years and then I go to use it and I could have bought three large pizzas for $50 two years ago but now I can only buy two - yes, your analogy is correct. But, if I paid .41 for a stamp in 2006 and kept it, and stamps today are .71 or whatever they are, I've saved a bit. Could I have earned more in the stock market? Maybe but I could have lost more too. I'm happy with my stamp "investment".
DeleteWe have several forever stamps - we do send out quite a few Christmas cards every year and birthday cards to family (and a few friends) - I'm pretty sure we used up our original stockpile a few years ago and every time they talk about raising prices AGAIN, I usually pick up a new pack for upcoming cards.
ReplyDeleteI always buy a couple of hundred stamps when the price is going up. I do use stamps, probably 20 a month as I send cards. I figure the last time stamps went up 5 cents I made more than 5% on my investment the day it went into effect. More than I can get from the bank.
ReplyDeleteGood investment and it's pretty much guaranteed because you know postage will continue to increase.
DeleteWe buy stamps when there are fun designs. So right now we've got one sheet left of Buzz Lightyear stamps and 5 or 6 of Star Wars droids. Keeps the kids and I amused at least, and it makes it fun to send Christmas cards!
ReplyDeleteThat would be fun! Half the time I grab a Christmas stamp in July. :)
DeleteIf you want to sell some of them for even a bit more than what you paid for them but not at current retail, I would buy several for our non-profit sampler guild that I am the treasurer of. It would help us out, and you wouldn't be stuck with so many. Just a thought...let me know if you'd be interested!
ReplyDeleteNot interested but thanks for asking. Whatever we don't use, Chad can use when we're gone.
DeleteI went to a Continuing Legal Education conference last week, and one session was on Intellectual property. The USPS had a forever stamp with the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the Post Office used an image taken from the New York New York Casino in Las Vegas instead of an image from the statue in New York state.. The copyright infringement cost the Post Office $3.5 million!
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