Yikes! Price of a single stamp goes up to a buck or 85 cents in booklets as of Monday

NEWS — Here’s some advice — if you have letters to mail, do it now. Come Monday, it’ll cost you a whole lot more.

That’s the day the price of a single stamp will go up to a buck. $1. One hundred cents.

If you buy stamps in booklets or coils, it’ll cost 85 cents per stamp, up from 63 cents. Those with old stamps can buy 22-cent stamps to top up.

A stamp cost three cents in 1967.

Lara Plummer, president of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 758 in Kamloops isn’t impressed.

“You would think that would generate income but will it drive people away?” she asked.

She said the public will have to absorb the increase for such things as Christmas and birthday cards but it will hit businesses hard and they might look for alternatives to using Canada Post.

“Will they decide it’s too much?”

Canada Post explains the changes this way:

“On March 31, the price of Permanent (or “P”) stamps bought in booklets, coils and panes will be $0.85 per stamp, up from $0.63 today. ‘P’ stamps are valid on standard letters 0-30 g. mailed within Canada.

“Permanent stamps, identified with the letter P in place of a value, will continue to be accepted even if they were purchased at a lower price prior to the adjustment. The typical Canadian household buys fewer than two stamps per month which means an estimated additional household cost of less than $5 per year.

“Customers who wish to purchase a single stamp will pay $1. This represents about two per cent of all stamp purchases.”

Canada Post said letter delivery “requires a costly, complex and customer-focused operation.” The increase for stamps “offers an immediate and much-needed financial contribution.”

The increase is part of a cost-reduction, revenue-increase plan by Canada Post that includes the phasing out of doo-ro-door mail delivery.