A Postage Stamp:
Premise: National U.S. Postage Stamp Day commemorates the convenience and straightforwardness of sending and receiving mail. A postage stamp symbolizes the payment for the transportation of a letter or a package.

Old Franklin half cent courtesy of Openverse

Philatelic:  The stamp collector just loves to collect different and unique stamps, and for that matter, all stamps to complete the collection–going into different and continual series completions, to make the whole set and catalog and install them in books with two sided, folding light organic stickers made of transparent glassine material. Also duplicates are usually stored and traded inside glassine envelopes. Stamp collectors sometimes collect both United States stamps, and also international stamps.

Over the Years Came Changes:  The way that letters and parcels were delivered over the years came changes. Here is a list of some of those 161 years of recorded history:

• 1885: Dropped charging 1/2 the price for a half ounce letter
• 1917-1919: Wartime emergency rate
• 1975: Last surface mail rate; dropped air mail rate
• 1975: Instituted 1st class & post cards via air mail only
• 1978: Started issuance of the first excessive price increase “A” stamp
• 1999: Last issuance of the first excessive price increase “H” stamp
• 2001: Started issuance of nondenominated stamps
• 2007: Shape-based postage pricing introduced
• 2007: International surface rates were terminated
• 2007: Forever stamps introduced
• 2007: Different prices for letters and packages for the first time
• 2021: USPS announces price increase late, effective 8/29/21 on 9/16/21
• 2020 to Present: 9 price increases since 8/24/21 over a five year period!!

Quite a History of Pricing Increases: Over the course of stamps being used on letters, the price has either changed or the structure of pricing has changed a total of 52 times. Starting out at 3¢, a forever stamp today costs 73¢ and on 07/13/2025, will cost 78¢. The average amount of years each period of an increase being near or just more than every 3 years. With 9 price increases over a five year period, that makes this period of 5 years have increases at a rate of over 700% higher (yes that high) than the average rate! We know that inflation has recently not been under control in the 2020s!

United States stamp: Labor Day courtesy of Openverse

Astraying: Many Americans are finding ways and means of shipping other ways than the Postal Service. I have always loved to support the USPS, but I think later this year, Versatileer has no other choice but to ship another method.

Keep Collecting: Despite price increases, many people still collect stamps, and the practice is not going away any time soon!

Celebrated: National U.S. Postage Stamp Day is celebrated every year on July 1^st!

A Few Facts:
I am sharing a few facts, and more, some trivia, some not trivial. . .

The Present:
Poor decisions and management have made the present day USPS’s image not the same as yesterday’s USPS. . .

The Future:
The USPS’s future is bleak yet improvements and changes iminent. Hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel. . .

FREEBIES & DEALS For Postage Day:
🇺🇸 FREE Postage Day: Fonts
🇺🇸 FREE Postage Day: Images
🇺🇸 FREE Postage Day: Star Spangled Banner sheet music
🇺🇸 CHEAP Postage Day: Ideas, Crafts & Worksheets