But Letter-Writing Costs Money!

I know, I know... writing letters costs money. There are the cards and envelopes. Not to mention postage, which has gotten ridiculous in the last few years. $0.85 for a Canadian card! Sheesh. But... there are ways of getting a discount on stamps! Yup, there is.

I took the easy way out.

When I was a kid, I collected stamps. During the 1970s and 1980s, I bought new stamps and kept them in a separate stamp album from my "used" stamps. I usually bought them in blocks of 4. The idea was that they would be worth $$$ some day. But... the truth is... they aren't.

Stamps made before about 1945 are worth $$$$. Stamps made after that... well, they're just too common. If you try and sell your mint condition stamps from the 1970s and 1980s, you might get 80% of their face value. What?? Yeah... those stamps are worth more to you as postage than they are as a collector's item.

I blinked when I learned that and then sat down, looked at all my mint Canadian stamps, and started to pull them apart and reassemble them into groupings that added up to $0.85, $1.20 and $2.50 (Canadian, US and International rates). The $0.08 ones were a bit tricky but... it didn't take long before I had them all arranged in my old stamp albums.

I've started using them as postage. I don't envy the poor postal worker who has to add up the value of 5 or 6 stamps but... that's not my problem!

So... that's my solution. But what happens when I run out of those stamps - in 2017 or 2018? Well... if you look on Ebay... you'll often find this.

Someone in Fort McMurray is selling a lot of mint condition stamps with a face value of $50 for $35. That's a 30% discount off of Canada Post. So, a letter will only cost you $0.60 instead of $0.85! Admittedly you have to assemble the correct postage combinations... but, that's kind of fun.

Maybe you've got a stash of mint condition stamps tucked away. Take a look and consider... how long have you had to pay to store them (rent & mortgage for square footage), move them (stamp albums are heavy) and maybe even insure them. They might be worth more to you as postage than as an investment.