About Snail Sweeping

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.

In case you may have forgotten, there will be no mail delivery on Monday. If you have any sweep entries you were planning to mail out on Monday, you'll want to get them out in today's mail.

In the meantime, I am here to give you your 2-minute warning. Saturday is the last day you can mail with 41-cent stamps! Well, that's only half-true. Beginning on Monday, first-class postage will be 42 cents. Your 41-cent stamps will need a little 1-cent stamp beside it to keep your mail from being sent back to you.

I suggest you take inventory and see how many 41-cent and 26-cent stamps you have lying around. (Postcard postage also increases to 27 cents on Monday.) Then subtract out how many you think you'll use today and tomorrow. The result is the number of 1-cent stamps you'll need to buy from your local post office. There's a good chance your local post office has already experienced a run on 1-cent stamps and may not have any for you today. But, you will at least know how many you will need to get when they're back in stock.

You should still try visiting your local post office today or tomorrow and buying as many forever stamps as you can. They cost only 41 cents today and tomorrow, and can be used as 42-cent postage stamps Monday and onwards. As a courtesy to the other sweepers in your local area, don't clean out their entire supply of forever stamps. Leave a few for others to buy.