Inflation creeping into the USPS

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I know eventually someone is going to have to pay for all this stimulus money in addition to all the money being injected into the system via the "printing press" at the Fed.  I've been anticipating inflation shooting up (and/or taxes), and I just noticed that the USPS raised the rates on some of their more expensive services (like Priority mail) and even $0.01 on postage for a post card.  Seems like they've been raising rates quite a bit in the past couple of years, though you might not see it in the standard $0.55 first class mail stamp. 

We're not getting all of this money for free, so expect prices to be rising not just for stamps but probably for a lot of things the various branches of government charge you for.  Think of all the professionals who have to renew their licenses, all the driver's licenses, auto registration, etc.  I don't know if there's any site to track that kind of econometric data, but it would be interesting to see if I'm right.

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

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[stompix]

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

2%? and you call this crazy? 
Wait for it, in a few years you'll stop counting the cents as it won't matter anymore, and you will finally get rid of the penny as one truckload of those coins won't be worth one ingot of zinc.

Trillions getting injected into the economy, rising oil prices, increase in the minimum wage, you'll see a lot of prices going up, this is just the beginning. Of course, it won't be something Venezuela style, more like Eastern Europe in the 90s.

I know eventually someone is going to have to pay for all this stimulus money in addition to all the money being injected into the system via the "printing press" at the Fed. 

Not someone but all, everyone will pay for it, even the ones that didn't get a cent!
The blessings of free money!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

2%? and you call this crazy?  

Yeah but....I bought all these $7.75 stamps and had to use extra postage (LOL).  Yes, looking at my post from your point of view it sounds silly, but if I'm not mistaken the USPS had already raised rates on priority mail just a few months ago, and it's starting to add up.

Wait for it, in a few years you'll stop counting the cents as it won't matter anymore, and you will finally get rid of the penny as one truckload of those coins won't be worth one ingot of zinc.

I can't wait until the US finally has enough sense to stop making cents.  Canada should just invade us and make us a Canadian colony, i.e., they were smart to ditch their one cent coin.  I see them lying all over parking lots where I live.  It's a silly coin at this point, and the $2 bill should probably replace the $1 bill.  They look so much cooler, too.

Also, I can't wait until it's legal to melt pre-'83 pennies.  Lots of copper in those babies.

[exstasie]

I know eventually someone is going to have to pay for all this stimulus money in addition to all the money being injected into the system via the "printing press" at the Fed.  I've been anticipating inflation shooting up (and/or taxes), and I just noticed that the USPS raised the rates on some of their more expensive services (like Priority mail) and even $0.01 on postage for a post card.  Seems like they've been raising rates quite a bit in the past couple of years, though you might not see it in the standard $0.55 first class mail stamp.  

We're not getting all of this money for free, so expect prices to be rising not just for stamps but probably for a lot of things the various branches of government charge you for.  Think of all the professionals who have to renew their licenses, all the driver's licenses, auto registration, etc.  I don't know if there's any site to track that kind of econometric data, but it would be interesting to see if I'm right.

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

That's nothing. At least the USPS operates as a public service, not a for-profit business. This increase is in line with their usual increases which happen every year or two. It's also in line with the target inflation rate.

In contrast, I'm easily paying 20-50% higher prices on many things I buy on Amazon vs. a few years ago. But I think the case of Amazon is especially egregious because they are jacking prices up after cornering lots of markets. I'm sure it's not purely a matter of costs or inflation.

[philipma1957]

I know eventually someone is going to have to pay for all this stimulus money in addition to all the money being injected into the system via the "printing press" at the Fed.  I've been anticipating inflation shooting up (and/or taxes), and I just noticed that the USPS raised the rates on some of their more expensive services (like Priority mail) and even $0.01 on postage for a post card.  Seems like they've been raising rates quite a bit in the past couple of years, though you might not see it in the standard $0.55 first class mail stamp.  

We're not getting all of this money for free, so expect prices to be rising not just for stamps but probably for a lot of things the various branches of government charge you for.  Think of all the professionals who have to renew their licenses, all the driver's licenses, auto registration, etc.  I don't know if there's any site to track that kind of econometric data, but it would be interesting to see if I'm right.

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

That's nothing. At least the USPS operates as a public service, not a for-profit business. This increase is in line with their usual increases which happen every year or two. It's also in line with the target inflation rate.

In contrast, I'm easily paying 20-50% higher prices on many things I buy on Amazon vs. a few years ago. But I think the case of Amazon is especially egregious because they are jacking prices up after cornering lots of markets. I'm sure it's not purely a matter of costs or inflation.

Not sure about that. Do you have a source?

edit Did some research decided you are correct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service ...

"The USPS is often mistaken for a state-owned enterprise or government-owned corporation (e.g., Amtrak) because it operates much like a business. It is, however, an "establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States", (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is controlled by presidential appointees and the postmaster general. As a government agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed, in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision “The Postal Service is not subject to antitrust liability. In both form and function, it is not a separate antitrust person from the United States but is part of the Government, and so is not controlled by the antitrust laws" such as the Sherman Antitrust Act.[89] Unlike a state-owned enterprise, the USPS lacks a transparent ownership structure and isn't subject to standard rules and norms that apply to commercial entities. The USPS also lacks commercial discretion and control.[90]

The U.S. Supreme Court has also upheld the USPS's statutory monopoly on access to letter boxes against a First Amendment freedom of speech challenge; it thus remains illegal in the U.S. for anyone, other than the employees and agents of the USPS, to deliver mailpieces to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail".[91]

The Postal Service also has a Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee and local Postal Customer Councils, which are advisory and primarily involve business customers.[92]"

...

[20kevin20]

I'm seeing it in Europe as well. Things are going wild in a quite short timespan. Food and services are becoming more expensive, and I expect it to happen everywhere...

I've been calling this ever since the pandemic began and they started artificially inflating and stimulating the economy. You can keep doing that, but not forever! And once they stop doing that, things will blow up.. All those trillions will hurt within months, years at most..

[stompix]

Yes, looking at my post from your point of view it sounds silly, but if I'm not mistaken the USPS had already raised rates on priority mail just a few months ago, and it's starting to add up.

Hihi, actually I wasn't laughing because you suddenly are hit with a 2% increase overnight while I had to deal with something close to triple digits a year, but I was trying to "prepare" you morally for the next price hike and the next...and the next, and by the end of the next year you might end doubling that 2, both in numbers and in value 2> 22 > 44
If the economy starts to "recover" and there will be some shit going in another oil-producing country, of if Biden starts to turn the US into a green paradise with zero shale oil you might see oil at 100$ again, 5$ a gallon, and 10$ a stamp won't be that far away.

From the same link Philipma1957 quoted:

For every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra US$8 million per year to fuel its fleet.

If I were you I would mail those Christmas cards by now

[Poker Player]

That the massive printing of money is going to end up in higher prices is almost like 2+2=4.

In recent years it has not been so noticeable, or not so much in proportion to what has been printed, because the money has gone more into assets such as the stock market or real estate. If you think that last year 20% of the total dollars printed in all of history were printed, you will realize what is to come.

Originally, one pound sterling could buy one pound of silver. Go now with a pound sterling and see how much silver you get.

[aoluain]

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

2%? and you call this crazy? 

-snip-

But its going to be 2% of everything we buy not just the stamp!
and 2% is only the start of it.

I'm seeing it in Europe as well. Things are going wild in a quite short timespan. Food and services are becoming more expensive, and I expect it to happen everywhere...

I've been calling this ever since the pandemic began and they started artificially inflating and stimulating the economy. You can keep doing that, but not forever! And once they stop doing that, things will blow up.. All those trillions will hurt within months, years at most..

I have a friend in the print business and he is seeing it with some of the
work he is being asked to do -Print new pricelists with inflated prices-
It is definitely happening its only small now but as the printing continues
so to will the prices increase.

[teosanru]

I know eventually someone is going to have to pay for all this stimulus money in addition to all the money being injected into the system via the "printing press" at the Fed.  I've been anticipating inflation shooting up (and/or taxes), and I just noticed that the USPS raised the rates on some of their more expensive services (like Priority mail) and even $0.01 on postage for a post card.  Seems like they've been raising rates quite a bit in the past couple of years, though you might not see it in the standard $0.55 first class mail stamp.  

We're not getting all of this money for free, so expect prices to be rising not just for stamps but probably for a lot of things the various branches of government charge you for.  Think of all the professionals who have to renew their licenses, all the driver's licenses, auto registration, etc.  I don't know if there's any site to track that kind of econometric data, but it would be interesting to see if I'm right.

$8.45 it cost me to mail a small Flat Rate Priority Mail box.  It was $8.30 just a few days ago.  Crazy.

Well it's not that bad speaking of it economically. After such a huge fiscal injection by US government during the pandemic this was more or less expected. Moreover I have seen a lot of people commenting upon inflation this January but inflation was much higher all around last year. Have a look here:

But talking about the effects of this trust me it's not going to matter a lot. Developing economies have much higher inflation rates and they are going pretty well. The way the GDP of US was destroyed due to Pandemic it will recover only if we have certain level of inflation in Economy.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I'm seeing it in Europe as well.
<snip>
All those trillions will hurt within months, years at most..

That's interesting to know, since I rarely hear financial news about Europe or how things are going there.  And yeah, I've heard people say our grandkids are going to be paying for all of this financial stimulus and money printing, but I really think the bill is going to come due much sooner than that.

If the economy starts to "recover" and there will be some shit going in another oil-producing country, of if Biden starts to turn the US into a green paradise with zero shale oil you might see oil at 100$ again, 5$ a gallon, and 10$ a stamp won't be that far away.

That's what I'm afraid of--and I made this thread about the USPS for a reason, because I think the "bill" that's coming due is going to start in the form of inflation of government goods/services and more taxation.  The government can't force stores to raise the price of peanut butter, but they can make you pay $0.10 for using a plastic bag at the grocery store (unless you bring your own).  And of course, they can raise the price of postage. 

Ugh.  We're in for a major headache.

[Lorence.xD]

2%? and you call this crazy? 
Wait for it, in a few years you'll stop counting the cents as it won't matter anymore, and you will finally get rid of the penny as one truckload of those coins won't be worth one ingot of zinc.

2% is not that big in my opinion, economists believe that around this number or 1.5% is a healthy inflation because this means that there is growth in economy, it also has to be accompanied with increased wages though.

Trillions getting injected into the economy, rising oil prices, increase in the minimum wage, you'll see a lot of prices going up, this is just the beginning. Of course, it won't be something Venezuela style, more like Eastern Europe in the 90s.

If the US government were to re-open their economy with the a better output, I think that it will offset the chances of hyperinflation, you see there are things that will contribute for a hyperinflation to happen, if there are little to no jobs available, this means that wages will not increase, and when the stimulus is being distributed but people are still unemployed which means that money will not be spent on luxuries and the money is hoarded and the economy is already deflationary.

Not someone but all, everyone will pay for it, even the ones that didn't get a cent!
The blessings of free money!

The ones who will pay for it are our grand kids and the further generations down the line. The only way to defeat this system is decapitate the hydra that is leading the economy and has been leading the people with false promise since time immemorial.