Surprising That They'd Even Consider It

The obligatory link: Post Office may issue "forever" stamp

Even though the post office is provided for in the Constitution, I can't say that I really like the fact that it still exists as a government entity. After all, haven't plenty of private companies proven that they can do a better, faster job?

Anyway, on the table today is the post offices' attempt to raise stamps three cents (again). I understand they need to cover things like fuel costs, but the thing is, with the admission that usage of first-class mail is declining, it looks more like an attempt to pad their numbers.

As to the "forever" stamp, the concept is to print a stamp with no valuation on the face, so people could buy them at the current price when they were issued (figure the three cent increase goes in, so that'd be 42 cents), and they would remain valid even in the case of a future rate increase. There is certainly a chance to speculate on the price of stamps here, particularly for people who use a great deal of them. Of course, what happens if they later go off and "un-forever" the "forever" stamp? Sure, it sounds rather illegal, but a government entity could probably get away with it, if it tried hard enough.