There are two things constant with mail-art, you’re required to worship Ray Johnson, and you’re expected to comment on postage prices. The first I’m not so great and heeding, but the second I find myself doing more and more. Ten years ago, I complained about postage prices. Fifteen years ago, I complained about postage prices. Now, I’m complaining about postage prices! Just last week, when I left the post office, I looked at my total and winced. It was too much. I need to get rid of the things I make and since no one wants them, I have to mail them to unsuspecting victims. The higher postage goes the more crap I have in my house.
No one talks about the rather genius decision for the “forever stamp.” I think it’s genius, I guess. Whoever came up with the Allen Toussaint stamp this year, thank you. He’s a hero of mine and I’ve bought this stamp over and over again. Anyway, having one consistent value while preparing envelopes makes it easier on senders, even if that isn’t as visually pleasing as having a whole envelope full of random stamps. It takes the math out of sending mail. It might have killed the overall usage of the one cent, five cent, and ten sent stamps, but move quicker through putting things together. As much as I love anything that takes math out of the equation, I love more than that they moved to stickers. Come on, what a no-brainer. I have no romantic associate with licking stamps. If they have flavored them, I might be more interested in licking them, but they never added grape, or bubble gum to the mix.
A quick google shows that in 2014 a stamp was $0.49. That seems low, very low. I’m sure it was very high, super high, to the people of 2014. Of course, I was making and sending mail art during that time, so I was for sure complaining about the prices. Stuff like, “If these prices get any higher, I’m going to significantly limit what I mail!” I’m sure I said it with anger, thunderous anger.
Just a little comparison. In the EU, a stamp costs between 1 euro and 1.9 euro. (I’m not looking for the euro symbol on my keyboard) Domestic EU rates change from country to country, and from which country you’re sending it to. Currently, a $0.78 cent domestic stamp in the US, would be .67 euro. In other words, US stamps are cheaper than those in Europe, if you’re sending them in-country. In Japan, it costs 110 to send a domestic letter, or 0.70 cents. It is a bit cheaper there, but not by much. In other words, we shouldn’t complain as much as we do. I mean we’re going to complain, but we should do it proportionately. This is too much math.
The US price of international shipping of packages is ridiculous. Cheeto Hitler did a number on those rates months ago as we inch closer to dismantling the postal system altogether. I’m sure Amazon will be running it before he drools into oblivion. When you buy a presidency, you have to get something in return, that’s just business. Unfortunately, sending anything internationally that isn’t completely flat, completely paper, is off limits. When I first started sending things, it was a luxury to mail something of strange proportions out of the country, but it wasn’t completely off limits.
So…how much am I helping to keep the USPS afloat? A quick search of my finances, and it seems like a lot, especially for a hobby. While I occasionally send them to friends and sometimes sell things online, the overwhelming amount I spend is on postage. It’s on stamps and metered mail envelopes filled with my shenanigans.
I mostly go to one post office in Lexington N.C., and before I go and see my mom on Wednesdays. In a pinch I’ll go to the post office in downtown Winston-Salem, on in Mocksville if I’m teaching over there. I go to the Lexington branch because it’s convenient and people tend to know me. This is important because it’s harder for them to get a few extra pennies out of you, something that can easily be done if you’re not paying attention. Unfortunately, the lady I liked the most, has retired. She had a sense of humor and would ask about the stickers and stamps on the front of envelopes. The newer folks have little personality. The lady in charge seems to be not only working there, but existing in the world. Another lady cheated me out of a couple of dollars this past summer and wouldn’t fess up to it. If she hadn’t brought up the issue with her boss, the dead inside lady, I would have never ratted her out. It was fine. I like the younger guy with the braids; he has a bounce.
I spent roughly $1434.24 on postage in 2025.
Maybe I should complain more.
That’s 1838.76 stamps.
That’s about $119.52 every month. That’s about $29.88 every week.
I could probably buy a used Kia for that sort of money. If I were inclined and assumed that this would be the typical amount every year, for about ten years, I could buy a decent used Kia.
Although I’ve made jokes that I’m looking for a mid-life crisis, this one might be it. No getting into motorcycles or extreme mountain climbing, just postage. Just a consistent movement of paper around the world to mark that one day I will die. While sending off mail might be dangerous in some places, (part of the appeal of such a crisis) where I normally go, things are pretty quiet. I’ve heard some arguments in that building, but nothing that I would consider life threatening. The lady that’s dead inside is well…dead inside, but the guy with the braids is always cool.
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