Since I started my #stampoftheday project in April, the goal has been to find a stamp or other object in my late father’s stamp collection that had some connection with that day.

Sometimes, this is easy; in fact sometimes I have to choose between several different stamps issued on the same day (as on July 4th when I had my choice of a 1957 stamp showing the American flag, a 1956 stamp showing Independence Hall, or a 1950 stamp honoring the 150 anniversary of the creation of the Indiana Territory, which covered what is now Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Michigan and Minnesota).

But sometimes this is challenging usually because it’s hard to find any stamp connected to that day and/or because my father’s collection doesn’t include a stamp connected to that day. Today is one of those days. But that’s part of the fun and the challenge of this strange project that I’ve undertaken.

So after much digging, I offer you today’s stamp of the day – actually today’s envelope of the day, a 3-cent, pre-stamped envelope picturing George Washington. It’s the stamp of the day today because on July 6, 1932, the cost of mailing a one ounce, first-class letter rose from 2 cents to 3 cents. That increase was pretty notable because except for two years during and just afte) World War I, it had cost 2 cents to mail a first-class letter since July 1, 1885 (when the price of mailing a first-class letter fell from 4 cents (as of 1883) and 6 cents (as of 1863).

To facilitate the new postal rates, the Post Office just reused the same image of Washington used on 2-cent stamps but did so in a different color. My father’s collection didn’t have any of those 3-cent stamps but it did have a couple of 3-cent envelopes, which also reflected the increased rate.

Depending on how you look at it, the increase was either totally justified or pretty outrageous. Two cents in 1885, for example, was probably worth the same as 2.8 cents in 1932. Viewed that way, the increase made sense. But, because of the Great Depression, two cents in 1919 (when the war-era rates dropped) was worth only about 1.5 cents in 1932.

Amazingly, after this increase, the price of a first-class stamp was unchanged until January 1, 1952 when it rose to four cents. That increase was only a fraction of the inflation rate over the same period of time (3 cents in 1932 was about the same as 5.8 cents in 1952). And, of course, rate increases started to come more frequently (in 1958, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2019). No wonder that the Post Office started issuing Forever Stamps in 2007 and no wonder that lots of people have unused stamps in their drawers.

For what it’s worth, on an inflation adjusted basis, the current first-class rate of 55 cents for a one-ounce letter, is roughly equal to 3 cents in 1932 and almost 6 cents in 1952. So perhaps the price of a postage stamp hasn’t gone up as much as people think.

So there you have it. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice and work for peace.