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May
22
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You might think I’m a little odd for writing about the Forever Stamp oh so much, and that’s fine. (I just really love bureaucracies, alright?) You might think I’d be done with the post office, but no. To quote Goodtimes, I really think this is the thing that’s going to get me into stamp collecting.
Plus, I knew one day some idiot would buy a whole bunch of stamps, giving me an easy post on a morning when I’m working on other things.
And here we go: Some dude in Camp Hill, Pa., bought $8,000 worth of the new forever stamps. That’s 19,512 stamps (and change), and now this all this man has to do is hope postage rates go up to $20 for a first-class letter.
Man pays $8,000 to stick with today’s stamp price [The Patriot-News]
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dmac | 10:54 AM | 0 Comments
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May
14
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Turns out I was wrong; the post office apparently can’t handle a little postal rate increase without mass chaos and looting after all!
Today is the official day of the long-awaited move to a 41-cent stamp. (For philatelists across the country, this is their Christmas. Uh, I guess.) That move is expected to be rather simple besides a few returns to sender. But for pretty much everything else, it’s going to be a disaster.
The post office is changing rates based on not just the weight of an item but also the shape. And they’re pissing off junk mailers1, which means you know it’s a good idea.
The Direct Marketing Association in New York is “very, very unhappy,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Hendricks. “The rates go into effect on Monday under protest.”
If the protest is upheld by the commissioner, the game will restart in the sixth inning with the score tied at 3 and two men on for the Direct Marketing Association.
But just because the new regulations are kind of confusing doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it, according to Postal Service spokesman Dave Partenheimer:
“Before, thickness didn’t matter,” he said. Now, “thickness does come into play. If it gets too thick you create a new shape.”
See, it’s just like we’re kids again: We get to work with shapes!
Size matters, so does shape under new postal rates [AP/CNN.com]
May 11: Postal Rate Increase To Cause Confusion, Panic
1 The Post Office used to have this hilarious website where it responded to every last knock on the United States Postal Service with a snippy letter. It seems to be gone now, but one I can remember asked the paper to refer to junk mail as “commercial mail.”
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dmac | 2:18 PM | 1 Comment
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Apr
24
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The letter of the week from the Northeast Times:
My 3-year-old son and his cousin were overjoyed at the thought of seeing the R2D2 mailbox that was put on display at Cottman Avenue and Frontenac Street for the Star Wars 30th anniversary. I’m equally happy that there was one placed in the Northeast and that it was spotlighted in the March 29 edition of the Northeast Times. However, I was glad that my sister and I took our children two days after we read where it was going it be, as when we arrived, the vinyl applied to it was already half removed from the back and side of the mailbox!
The following day, the vinyl had been ripped off of the front of the mailbox as well. I was disgusted when I saw this! I guess nothing can be special anymore. If we can’t respect something as simple as a decorated mailbox and let others have some joy seeing it, what does that say about the residents of our city? I guess graffiti would be appropriate for the mailbox. Hopefully, the next time there is something different and unique that is going to be placed in the Northeast, maybe it won’t be put here, since it would only be destroyed. I’m just glad that my son was able to appreciate it before it was completely destroyed. Way to go in ruining something else nice and different in the Northeast.
Alright, look. I know Northeast Philly isn’t the most exciting place in the world, but never, ever, ever, even in my most bored state as a kid did I ever think, “Hey! Let’s go visit the mailbox!”
Sadly, the vandal force is with us [Northeast Times]
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dmac | 3:38 PM | 0 Comments
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Apr
12
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The greatest day of our lives is finally here. Today, the forever stamp goes on sale.
The Inquirer’s Peter Mucha is all over America’s newest stamp today, which will sell for 41 cents and be able to mail a first-class letter no matter what the rate is. He writes at 7:30 the USPS officials “speechified about their latest first-class stamp” at the Liberty Bell at 7:30, is on the actual stamp.
The stamp bears the Liberty Bell because the stamps are giving people the liberty to no longer buy 1- or 2-cent stamps, and also because it gives them the liberty to give the post office a ton of money right away so they can horde stamps. Then they can lose the stamps, and the post office gets all that cash without having to send any letters.
It’s genius, I tell you. This “Forever” stamp is even more clever than we all originally thought.
‘Forever’ stamp has national kickoff at Liberty Bell this morning [Inquirer]
Yesterday: New Stamp To Make Life Worthwhile
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dmac | 11:07 AM | 1 Comment
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Apr
11
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We are only one day away from the official on-sale date of the U.S. Post Office’s “Forever” stamp, which will be good for mailing one (1) first class letter even if the post office jacks up rates to $500 a letter.
This is ending the apparently tedious practice of having to go buy 1- or 2-cent stamps whenever the post offices raises the cost of sending a letter. For me, by the time they actually raise postal rates I’ve lost whatever book of stamps I had purchased a year before. Also, who sends letters?
Even better, the new “forever” stamp features our very own Liberty Bell! And, tomorrow, the post office is even celebrating the new stamp’s arrival:
Postal Service spokeswoman Cathy Yarosky says a special ceremony at the Liberty Bell pavilion will mark the occasion, and a center city post office will serve as a central distribution point:
“We’re going to have a special booth and retail table set up Thursday morning, beginning about 8am, at the William Penn Annex post office, which is located at 9th and Market Streets in downtown Philadelphia.”
Finally, something to get excited about in this city. Well, more excited about than a peace rally turning violent, at least.
New Liberty Bell ”Forever” Stamp Goes On Sale Thursday [KYW 1060]
Peace Rally Turns Violent in West Philadelphia [KYW 1060]
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dmac | 11:37 AM | 0 Comments
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Apr
6
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Actual conversation overheard by me the other day while walking past the R2-D2 mailbox at Broad and Locust:
Girl #1, mailing a letter: “Wow, this mailbox kind of looks like R2-D2!”
Girl #2: “You’re right! It does look like R2-D2!”
Me: “You idiots, it’s C-3PO.”
USPS Jedi Master
[Photo by Fuzzy Gerdes]
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dmac | 3:00 PM | 1 Comment
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Apr
6
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Can you really be a town without a zip code? Uhh, of course. Who the hell would think a way of categorizing mail has anything to do with the identity of a town?
Bucks County residents, that’s who! The citizens of Northampton are asking the post office for a new zip code so they may have an identity via a zip code while inconveniencing other people and costing the post office a lot of money.
The majority of Northampton residents have a zip code in — gasp! — Southampton. The others have Ivyland or Warminster zip codes, meaning their township is rendered pointless when sending letters, which nobody does anymore anyway. “I think the time has come,” Northampton Supervisor George Komelasky said. “We’re a fairly established community, we deserve our own identity.”
He continued: “Have we lost our identity? Should we have something singular for the community?” Indeed!
The post office responded with a clear “Uh, what?”
“With so much thought and effort going into establishing our delivery boundaries, constant changes will result in the very time consuming and expensive task of realignments,” [USPS communications program specialist, whatever that is, Cathy] Yarosky said in an e-mail.
Yarosky said it would be “far too costly” to adjust ZIP codes for the sake of community identity.
She said ZIP codes can’t be added or changed based on municipal tax collections, real estate, mail order payments or other reasons that are not determined by mail volume, delivery area size and geographical location.
Northampton residents aren’t the only ones with way too much time on their hands. Both Yardley and Lower Makefield are hoping to achieve a coveted new zip code and cost the post office lots of money in order to have the significance of five new digits as well as possibly losing lots of mail during the changeover.
Residents want township to deliver new ZIP [Bucks County Courier Times]
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dmac | 11:42 AM | 2 Comments
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