About Snail Sweeping

I've decided that my new year's resolution is to start maintaining this web site again.

For my first post in a great long while, I'll pass along the news about the latest round of stamp price increases.

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_114.htm

A quick summary:

• First class mail will increase 1 cent to 46 cents on January 27th, 2013
• Postcards will increase 1 cent to 33 cents on the same day

If you have any forever stamps or forever postcards, you will still be able to use them after the price increase date with no problem. But, if you have any stamps or stamped postcards with an amount printed on them, you will need to use a 1-cent makeup stamp with them or your outgoing mail will almost certainly come straight back to you.

Please don't shoot the messenger!

• Postcard stamps will increase by one cent to 29 cents
• First class mail will stay at 44 cents
• New prices will take effect on April 17th, 2011

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2011/pr11_004.htm?from=home_newsandannounce&page=NewPostalServPricingAnnounced

USPS News Release: Postal Service Proposes Price Changes

I wasn't expecting this at all, as stamp price hikes have been taking place in May for the last several years. Highlights of the article:

• First class stamp rates will rise to 46 cents
• Postcard stamp rates will rise to 30 cents
• New prices will take effect January 2nd, 2011
• A new forever stamp design will be made available later this year

I was really, really hoping they'd raise first class mail by only one cent this year. No such luck for us!

Beginning May 11, 2009, a first-class stamp will cost you 44 cents, and a postcard stamp will cost you 28 cents.

All of the bad news is free to read at the USPS web site:

http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm

There's also a rumor going around that the post office might cut back to a 5-day delivery schedule to cut costs:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-28-postoffice_n.htm

I sure hope that doesn't happen, but if it must, I hope they decide to suspend delivery on Saturday. It sounds like they don't know if they'd cut delivery on Saturdays or on Tuesdays. I just know I'd never remember that Tuesday was a postal holiday. It would be far easier to remember that weekends are postal holidays. But that's just my opinion, which is worth only 2 cents, the amount of this year's postage hike!

I have an idea how to cheer you up. I'm going to hold a sweepstakes of my own!

One grand prize winner will receive 2 books of forever stamps, and five first prize winners will each receive one book of forever stamps. You may enter once per person, and entries are due by 12 noon EST on March 3rd, 2009, my husband's birthday.

As you fill out the contest form, please also let me know what sweepstakes prizes you are most interested in winning. I'll use the information you give me to know what sort of sweepstakes I should be searching for and featuring on this web site.

Winners will be selected on the evening of March 3rd, and will be contacted at the email address you provide on the form below. I won't be able to contact you if there's any typos in your email address, so check and double-check your email address before submitting your entry.

Since forever stamps are only good for postage within the United States, only United States residents may enter this sweepstakes. You must also be 18 years of age or older to enter.

If you win, I'll mail your forever stamps out to you right away, but I would suggest holding on to them and not using them until May 11th, 2009. They'll be worth even more what they're worth today once May 11th rolls around!

Yes, I do realize the irony. This blog features mail-in sweepstakes, but yet is running a sweepstakes that you may only enter online.

Answer: I know that one of the sweepstakes I've featured in the past few days had specifically addressed this question. However, now I can't remember which one it was! Its official rules stated that the postmark date would be considered the date of entry for mail-in entries. While I can't state this as a fact, I am sure it is the unspoken assumption in other sweepstakes with "one entry per day regardless of method of entry" restrictions.

I won a sweep several years ago and asked a question similar to this to the woman who notified me of my win. I learned that they kept a database of all entries submitted to them, containing both online and mail-in entries, which contained a total count of all entries from each person. If a person's total count exceeded the number of days the promotion was active, that person was not eligible to win prizes. This is how they enforced the "one entry per day" rule. I learned two things from this:

1. It's probably not worth it to send your entries in fancy or decorated envelopes. If all judging agencies are conducting drawings like this, it means your mail-in entry is being opened, the envelope is being discarded, and your entry details are either being scanned, or processed by a data entry clerk. The drawing is all electronic, and your envelope's texture or appearance won't help you win.
2. You'll be easily found out if you are entering both online and through the mail in the same day, if the sweeps administrator does things this way, so don't be tempted to cheat.