Starting May 12, 2008 the cost of mailing will increase slightly. What does this mean for those of us who mail out letters on a regular basis? It means we can expect to pay slightly more when we mail out our bills and letters next month. It also means a higher demand for the recently produced Forever stamp, which can be purchased at one rate and is good, well, forever. To meet this expected demand, the U.S. Postal Service is going to keep 5 billion Forever stamps in stock prior to the May 12th increase.

While many of us are moaning and growing about the increase, according to the USPS, there are a few upsides to the changes taking place in May. The following pricing highlights are courtesy of the United States Postal Service:

• Express Mail is switching to a zone-based pricing system, resulting in customers paying less for nearby destinations.
• Priority Mail will have an average 3.5 percent savings for customers who use electronic postage or meet other requirements.
• Parcel Select will feature pricing and volume incentives for large- and medium-size shippers.
• Parcel Return Service will move entirely to a weight based pricing system, resulting in significant price reductions for many lighter packages.
• No change in the First-Class Mail single-piece additional-ounce price.
• Lower additional-ounce price for presorted First-Class Mail letters.
• Lower pound price for Standard Mail saturation and high-density flats.
• Shape-based pricing for First-Class Mail International letters, flats, and parcels.
• First-Class Mail International price groups expand from five to nine groups.

In my opinion, however, the benefits of the price changes seem to only affect companies or individuals who mail out large volumes of letters and packages. With pricing incentives for large shippers and high-density flats, we can expect one thing for sure in May: a larger volume of junk mail in our mail box.