Coming May 14, the post office will raise first class postage from $0.39 to $0.41 and they have also approved the
forever stamp. While the forever stamp will be a great convenience in that you will no longer need to get small denominations stamps with every postal increase, it is not something that you should invest in by stockpiling a large number of them.
Since prices for first class stamps are likely to increase on a yearly basis from now on, many people have been wondering if buying a lot of forever stamps would be a good investment. While in theory this would seem to be the case, in reality it is a poor investment for the following reasons:
1. You can earn more in an online savings bank than you can from the increase in the postage stamps price (4.9% vs 5+%)
2. Future forever stamp price increases will be based on inflation meaning they will still likely be less than you can get from a savings account.
3. Buying many to resell won't work. Once you have them, if you try to sell them, you aren't likely to be able to get face value for them (you can get
stamps at 10% below face value right now)
4. Even if you can get face value, selling fees from auctions would wipe out any profit
5. You probably can't get large numbers of forever stamps even if you want them since the law provides that the post office is only allowed to sell “reasonable quantities” to customers.
The best course of action is to purchase forever stamps that will last you 6 months to a year depending on how valuable the convenience of not having to go back to the post office is for you. Even better, arrange so that you use the post office the least amount possible and save even more on stamps.
Forever Stamp
