I looked up the historical 1/2 oz. first class rate, and
it's kind of amazing -- although it dropped from 3 cents
to 2 cents and back a couple times, and it used to be per 1/2 oz.,
you could still mail a 1/2 ounce letter for 3
cents or less for 125 years:
March 3, 1863 3 per 1/2 oz.
March 3, 1883 2 per 1/2 oz.
July 1, 1885 2 per Ounce
November 3, 1917 3 "
July 1, 1919 2 "
July 6, 1932 3 "
August 1, 1958 4
January 7, 1963 5
January 7, 1968 6
May 16, 1971 8
[last 86 years, 300% increase, 1.6% per year]
August 1971 gold-backed dollar abolished
March 2, 1974 10
December 31, 1975 13
May 29, 1978 15
March 22, 1981 18
November 1, 1981 20
February 17, 1985 22
April 3, 1988 25
February 3, 1991 29
January 1, 1995 32
January 10,1999 33
January 5, 2001 34
June 30, 2002 37
[last 31 years, 363% increase, 5.1% per year] |
