Postage Rates

I heard that postage rates are probably going to increase in January, 2011, from 44 cents to 46 cents for letters up to one ounce.

I still think that's a small price to pay to send a letter anywhere in the country in just a couple of days. I also think the USPS provides a great service. Many people like to complain about the service, but I think those complaints are mostly unfounded.

The first postage rates were 6 cents in 1863. In 1914, the price to mail a letter had actually decreased down to 2 cents! www.inflationdata.com only has inflation rates since 1914. 2 cents in 1914 is equivalent to 44 cents in 2010 dollars. That means that compared to 1914, it's basically the same price to mail a letter now than it was then.

I haven't researched this issue at all, but I have some random thoughts about it. I assume that postage rates decreased over the first 50 years because using the mail became more popular and technology evolved. It became cheaper to process mail and the demand grew - causing prices to drop.

Inflation took off in the early 70's and postage rates increased to match inflation. So even though it seems as though postage has been going crazy lately, it hasn't made much of a change in terms of real dollars over the last century.

Here's a graph showing the price of postage since 1863: