The Forever Stamp: The Next Great Investment Opportunity?

Would you be interested in an investment with the following features?:

1. It offers a 9.75% annualized return on your money.

2. It is a very short-term investment.

3. It is guaranteed by the United States Government.

4. There is no minimum investment.

5. It has an easily transferable investment with no registration.

6. The investment will never go down in value.

So what is this great investment? It's the Forever Stamp. This is a stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office that will cover one ounce of postage, no matter how high the price of postage rises, even if the price goes to $5 per ounce. The current price for the first ounce is $0.41.

However, on May 12, the price will go up by $0.01 to $0.42, which is an increase of 2.44% over the next three months. But, if you buy the Forever Stamp you can lock in the price per ounce, forever, at $0.41. In doing so, you will lock in a gain of 2.44% for a quarter of a year, or 9.75% on an annualized basis.

If you pay a lot of bills by mail, have a small company that does a lot of mailouts, or you are part of an organization that sends out monthly newsletters, then maybe it is appropriate to load up on these stamps.

If you missed my Six Ways to Save on Postage article that I wrote last year, you should check it out.

Comments

[drierp:]

your annualization of the increase doesn't work, or assumes a 2.44% increase EVERY 3 months, which isn't in any USPS plan I've seen..

And 2.44% for 4 quarters is 10.12% a year annualized..

You might as well said the 1 day increase is 2.44%, and the annualized version of that increase is 6605%..

2008 Feb 14 02:07 PM

[gokou3:]

Why stop at 1 day.... you can annualize the return based on the time between the business close of the USPS office and the opening on the next day...

2008 Feb 15 04:17 PM

[Greg in Al:]

I thought the same thing! They are certainly better than TIPS. What better way to protect yourself from inflation than an investment tied to a the costs incurred by a bureaucratic monopoly. Just like precious metals, perhaps a small portion of every investors portfolio belongs in forever stamps! I'm just a little concerned about the looks I'm gonna get at the counter when I ask for a thousand rolls :)

2008 Feb 15 10:14 PM