U.S. postal stamp up to 45 cents

I remember the 3 cent stamp and the penny postcard. It doesn't seem that long ago but it was back in 1932 when the 3 cent stamp for first-class 1 oz mail was sold. It had been virtually unchanged up until 1958 and the cost has been steadily increasing ever since.

More and more of us are doing our banking on-line. It is estimated that over 63 million of us use on-line banking and automatic bill paying.

On Sunday, the U.S. Postal Service increased the price. This rate increase means a billion dollars a year to the postal service but it has been reported that they lost $5 billion last year. It'll cost a penny more — a 45-cent stamp — to mail a letter starting Jan. 22, and mailing a postcard will go up three cents, to 32 cents. As more and more of us go digital, the 45 cent stamp won't be around for long.