I guess I haven't been paying attention

Today, the price to send a letter first-class went up to 41 cents. I guess now that I pay most of my bills online and use predominantly email/the telephone to communicate with folks, I just didn't notice.

I knew that the Post Office was issuing a "forever stamp", but I didn't know much more about it than it would be good for first class postage forever. I didn't know how much it would cost or when the price hike would go into effect. I guess I'll get me some for the occasional bill I pay through the mail (nope, don't do that anymore)... er, um, my correspondence with all of my penpals (nope, don't do that anymore)... um, er, placing mail-orders from catalogs (nope, that's gone electronic too)... Honestly, I can't think of anything I need stamps for anymore. Deposits to my checking account? Pre-paid postage on the envelope. Cards and invitations? Only for grandma; the rest get e-greetings. My holiday greetings? Okay. Those I do mail, when I manage to get them out (I have two years' of annual newsletters which I wrote but never sent... d'oh).

Yeah, no wonder postage is going up. Less volume reduces the economies of scale.