Translate

Monday, May 12, 2008

Stamp prices vs. gas prices

Everybody is complaining about the price of gas, but there was hardly a peep about the Postal Service raising the price of stamps ... again.

In case you haven't noticed, it costs 42 cents to mail a first-class letter as of today.

Economics Professor Mark J. Perry compares the price of stamps with the price of a gallon of gas at his Carpe Diem blog.

Perry's conclusion?

"If stamp prices had increased over time at 'only' the rate of gas prices, a first-class stamp would only cost only 27.6 cents today instead of 42 cents."

Why aren't Americans pissed off at high stamp prices?

Why is Big Oil the target of such venom and not Big Government, which runs the postal monopoly?

No comments: