Circulation director
Even though I have worked for the Marion County Record many years, I have never written anything in the paper. My job is to keep track of subscriptions, make labels, and send papers to the right destinations. I depend on the U.S. Postal Service to help me do my job.
On Monday, the price of a first-class stamp will go up to 45 cents. Recent notification about the increase helped me remember past events.
When I was born, my parents could mail a letter for three cents. When Alex and I mailed our wedding invitations, it cost us four cents apiece to mail. Since we wed in my hometown, Chanute, and our wedding dance was in Pilsen, the invitation list was long. With every milestone the increase was there: our last baby’s birth announcement, 10 cents; our first son’s graduation announcement, 20 cents; our first grandchild’s birth announcements, 29 cents; and this summer when we mail out the invitations to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, it will cost 45 cents each.
That means in my lifetime, the price of a first-class stamp has increased 1,400 percent.