Postal Service Fast Tracked to Obsolescence

Not enough people are using the U.S. Postal Service so naturally they increase the price of a stamp for the seventh time in a decade. At the going rate expect another increase to be announced around the fall of 2011.

The U.S. Postal Service has proposed increasing the price of a first-class stamp by another 2 cents in the face of slumping mail volume.

If approved by regulators, the increase to 46 cents for a standard letter would go into effect Jan. 2 and be the seventh increase in a decade. As of Jan. 7, 2001, the cost of a stamp was 34 cents.

The Postal Service said it has faced "plummeting mail volume traced to the recession and increased use of the Internet," resulting in a projected deficit of nearly $7 billion for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The proposed increases would raise about $2.3 billion for the first nine months of calendar 2011.

In order to compete, decreasing the price of stamps is the obvious solution.

I know, crazy thinking on my part.