The proposed Mailing Services price changes include:

Product Current New
Letters (1 oz.) 50 c 55 c
Letters additional ounces 21 c 15 c
Letters (metered 1 oz.) 47 c 50 c
Outbound International Letters (1 oz.) $1.15 $1.15
Domestic Postcards 35 c 35 c

The proposed domestic Priority Mail Retail Flat Rate price changes are:

Product Current New
Small Flat Rate Box $7.20 $7.90
Medium Flat Rate Box $13.65 $14.35
Large Flat Rate Box $18.90 $19.95
APO/FPO Large Flat Rate Box $17.40 $18.45
Regular Flat Rate Envelope $6.70 $7.45
Legal Flat Rate Envelope $7.00 $7.65
Padded Flat Rate Envelope $7.25 $8.00

I didn’t see any statement if there will be any change to the sweetheart deal Amazon gets will change.

@pauldow Something to keep in mind if you’re cashing out Office Depot rewards on postage stamps.

Yup, exactly what I was thinking.

@ukedog said in USPS Postage Rates Going up Jan 27, 2019. Buy Forever Stamps to save 10% Later:

@pauldow Something to keep in mind if you’re cashing out Office Depot rewards on postage stamps.

Yup, exactly what I was thinking.

Since everyone is going to have the same idea at once, best to do this NOW. You can bet there will be a run on the stamps at OD in January when January rewards drop.

@zennuts said in USPS Postage Rates Going up Jan 27, 2019. Buy Forever Stamps to save 10% Later:

@ukedog said in USPS Postage Rates Going up Jan 27, 2019. Buy Forever Stamps to save 10% Later:

@pauldow Something to keep in mind if you’re cashing out Office Depot rewards on postage stamps.

Yup, exactly what I was thinking.

Since everyone is going to have the same idea at once, best to do this NOW. You can bet there will be a run on the stamps at OD in January when January rewards drop.

Good idea, MC. I could see Office Depot running out of their stock of postage stamps towards the end of next month, Best to get the stamps this weekend. I already have over a grand in stamps, so I will be adding another $125 tomorrow. Maybe I can include the stamps in my will. Are you allowed to sell stamps on eBay?

@mrvietnam I buy my stamps on eBay when there’s a coupon, eg $25/$75.
The last time I bought them I think I paid $42 for 100. Added in empty ink cartridges as a filler to reach $75.

So how do you liquidate your Staples and OD Rewards?

@mrvietnam I buy my stamps on eBay when there’s a coupon, eg $25/$75.
The last time I bought them I think I paid $42 for 100. Added in empty ink cartridges as a filler to reach $75.

Mr. V, I’d rather pay face value for the stamps and get them free with the rewards than use an Ebay Q and ‘real’ oop on them.

I typically have other items I can make good use of the coupon for on Ebay, and cashing out rewards for stamps at OD is an excellent way to spend them down. Between $20 a month for ink, $6 for reviews and $10-30 on FAREWARDS items I have a rolling $35-56 coming in each month. Sometimes I’m really at a loss on what to get that simply isn’t ‘junk’ or just more overstock of something I don’t really need.

@my4mainecoons said in USPS Postage Rates Going up Jan 27, 2019. Buy Forever Stamps to save 10% Later:

@mrvietnam I buy my stamps on eBay when there’s a coupon, eg $25/$75.
The last time I bought them I think I paid $42 for 100. Added in empty ink cartridges as a filler to reach $75.

So how do you liquidate your Staples and OD Rewards?

RE Staples:

Since Staples locally carries a much better selection of Breakroom items vs. Office Depot most gets liquidated that way. Toilet Paper, paper towels, Coffee, etc. I don’t over pay as I always Price match to a supermarket sale in the area.

AT BF, I was fortunate to liquidate about $120 in rewards on a BF item that I sold within 2 weeks for what I paid plus $10. Without rebate items now, it’s impossible to cash out. So it was nice to convert a chunk of them to cash.

@mrvietnam I don’t have OD, just Staples. I use Rewards on things for personal use or for resale. The only things I buy on eBay are stamps, ink carts & shipping supplies. I pay for them w/ proceeds from eBay sales. It all just goes around and around…

I use Ebay for a hodgepodge of things:

Printer Ink (generic for Brother), empty ink carts for recycle, cell phone accessories (chargers, cases, Bluetooth gadgets, etc), assorted household things and high end hair products my wife uses that are cheap on the Bay. Sometimes ship gifts to others via Ebay sale. Also auto parts, and all kinds of things over the years I’m forgetting.

I try to buy with a coupon or Ebay Bucks promo whenever possible. always use a CB site for 1.5-2% back.

Will you put me in your will? I should be able to use what you have left and then gift them to the next generation.

Are you allowed to sell stamps on eBay?

Yes, there are currently over 8500 listings for US postage stamps, most being sold at a discount…

I purchased 300 Forever stamps like this ($150 value, discounted to $119) during one of eBay’s rare 20% promos for just $95 (essentially, buy two, get one free)…will have to do that again before January’s price increase…

One of my favorite eBay stamps buys was 100 USPS “forever” pre-stamped #10 envelopes at a discount purchased w/ eBay coupon. So not only was the postage less than full price but got self stick envies in the deal. I’m still working on those. When I finish those I have a roll of 100 but I haven’t bought stamps for a few years-- as mentioned, when the price was 42¢ for Forever Stamps. I have no idea what the current rate is/will be since I pre-bought.

I have a roll of 100 but I haven’t bought stamps for a few years-- as mentioned, when the price was 42¢ for Forever Stamps. I have no idea what the current rate is/will be since I pre-bought.

Wow! Super bargain, especially with the bonus envelopes!!! I can’t remember when stamps were only $0.42!

I do remember when Air Mail was around $0.50, though…I think I last purchased some of those at $0.75…

@pauldow said:

Most USPS rates are going up Jan 27, 2019.
1 Oz. first class letters go from 50 to 55 cents.
The proposed Mailing Services price changes include:

Product Current New
Letters (1 oz.) 50 c 55 c
Letters additional ounces 21 c 15 c
Letters (metered 1 oz.) 47 c 50 c
Outbound International Letters (1 oz.) $1.15 $1.15
Domestic Postcards 35 c 35 c

Sorry the alignment is messed up. The text editor doesn’t like the tab character, and multiple spaces to create columns also get removed.

FWIW, as a noob, I was easily able to create a (relatively) large table in Markdown Language (which is used on this site) for the OP of the thread below using these instructions:

@kayk said in Best Nationally Available High APY Liquid Accounts:

If it’s in an excel file or csv (or even fatwallet)… paste it here --> http://www.tablesgenerator.com/markdown_tables

Go to File --> Paste Data on that page and then you should get the Markdown code which you should be able to copy and paste it here. That’s what I did… copy from fatwallet, paste it there, generate markdown code, copy that, past it over here.

@gremln007 Most of the cheap stamps on eBay are counterfeits.

Yikes! Any tips on finding the best sellers? Just pay full price (before eBay coupons/Bucks discounts and cashback portals)? It sounds like even sellers with good ratings may not be safe? If the post office doesn’t automatically return all mail with fake stamps to senders, no wonder they have to keep raising the price on postage stamps (I’m assuming they don’t catch fakes or more eBay sellers would have a ton of negative reviews/get banned). I haven’t bought stamps in over 10 years (still have a few Forever Stamps left), so I’m really out of the loop on this.

I already have over a grand in stamps, so I will be adding another $125 tomorrow. Maybe I can include the stamps in my will. Are you allowed to sell stamps on eBay?

I thought I went overboard w/ 400 stamps (bought at approximately 47% off of retail from Boxed.com during various promos when there were substantial Boxed.com coupons which stacked w/ Amex Offers). I think Forever stamps were 46¢ or 48¢ at the time. From what I recall, my effective price came out to around 25¢/stamp. I use maybe 10 stamps per year, so I’m set for a while!

EDIT: I have 400+ stamps, not $400 worth of stamps (although once Forever stamps reach $1, if I still have that many, they’ll be worth $400).

Face value of 1000 stamps = $500, seller was asking $380, eBay gave me an additional 15% off (total $323), so I essentially bought 6.5 rolls, got 3.5 free (paid for 646, got 354 free)…

If I don’t end up using them, I’ll either put them in my Will, like @MrVietnam, or maybe I’ll sell them for more than face value, like a lot of the sellers I saw tonight!

This seller has good info on detecting counterfeit stamps, but is charging $92.99 for 100 Forever stamps (current face value $50):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Usps-Postage-Stamp-Forever-American-Flag-Coil-Of-100-Us-Beware-counterfeit-rolls/332790350729