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Rates Rising Up North

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

U-S mailers should count their blessings: While the U-S Postal Service is seeking a
3-cent a letter rate hike, Canada Post’s letter rate is going up 22 cents next
spring — to 85 cents. And if you walk into a Canadian post office and want just ONE
stamp, it will cost you a dollar.

Now, Canada has permanent-rate stamps, much like our Forever stamps. If you buy them
now, at the current letter rate, they’re good for mailing a letter after the increase.

Except Canada Post has been cutting back on selling and issuing Permanent rate stamps.
Many of its recent issues have a denomination of the current 63-cent rate.

There’s even talk that its permanent stamps aren’t so permanent — that the stamps
purchased before the rate increase at the end of March may be capped at 63 cents.

So the next time you want to complain about the U-S Postal Service, look to the
north — and hope the postal people here DON’T.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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