$1 Rate and the Return of Permanent Stamps

You godda da wrong accent, hoser

Rick, the "Rates and Prices" page on the Canada Post website states the new domestic rate is $1, seen here. I am taking this as meaning that any mails sent with anything less than $1 in numerically denominated or 'P' stamps will be returned or rejected for insufficient postage. This would mean the 85¢ purchase price is being offered as a discount for purchasing booklets or coils.

All that being said, the March edition Details that arrived today and the 22¢ Monarch Butterfly stamp is being described as the 'make-up' stamp.  The description reads this "low-value definitive will transform your 63-cent stamp into the current domestic rate."  As stated above, 63+22=85¢.  So I too am confused as to what the actual domestic rate now is.  The statement about the 22¢ stamp seems to indicate that mail franked with a 63+22¢ combination will be accepted at the domestic rate. 

So, why issue the $1 rate burrowing owl stamp?  This denomination doesn't apply to any of the other standard letter-mail rates, even the oversized domestic is $1.80.  It could be argued that these stamp are intended to be sold as singles at the postage counter, but couldn't they just ring in Permanent stamps at $1 when singles are purchased?  As far as I know designing, printing, and issuing stamps is not free, so I am glad to see Canada Post is doing everything they can to save money.

Yep, Canada Post is (Imho)definitely trying to put all focus of the information ( or misinformation) they're providing on the stamps that they have for sale and the different prices for those stamps rather than what the actual rate is. Do you think maybe intentionally ambiguous?
The page Westy points to would certainly have you believe that the rate is definitely a dollar, because "look" we have a new dollar stamp and its shown on the "Rates & Prices" page with the heading "Canada $1.00". The same thing on their websites homepage, both US and International have very definite dollar values for the rates shown but for the domestic rate they again show the rate as being a dollar with asterisks mentioning discounts are available. Again giving you the impression that the rate is a dollar but under certain circumstances they going to be nice and give you a "discount". And then, definitely not on the home page, or the rates and prices page, but buried three or four clicks deep into the website, and only if you know what your looking for, you find the 22cent make-up rate stamp which clearly states (as Westy already pointed out) that allows you to combine it with the 63cent stamp you already have and voila you can mail your letter for 85cents. Discount sounds so much better than penalty or premium price.

A cut and paste from the actual 22cent description from their website;
If they really wanted to be upfront and honest with people why would they not put that information front and center on the main pages the average Joe is going to look at when they go the website trying to find out the current rates. Not bury it where nobody but stamp collectors are going to go look for it. Seriously, the only place you put the information that the rate is actually 85cents is buried within one particular stamp's description. If you didn't have suspicions that there should be a make-up rate stamp to begin with why would you even look at that stamp or its description.

If the rate was actually going to a dollar, fine, I mean sure, I 'd rather have it cheaper but if that's what it is that's what it is. I realize that for the average guy over the course of a year you might be talking about paying out an extra dollar or two, not even the cost of a cup of coffee. The point and the part that pis**s me off is that it seems like they're doing as much as they can to to intentionally mislead and over charge by not even making even a meager attempt to make the information available. Those that do their own leg work and mail stuff with knowledge in hand pay one price, those that rely on the misleading information they're fed pay 18% over and above for the exact same service. There are so many businesses out there that if they attempted to this kind of pricing shell game it would be considered criminal. No opportunity to actually complain to anyone (other than you guys  ) because Canada Post doesn't have any email address's or phone numbers listed on their website. (really, what kind of multimillion dollar business doesn't have contact info available.) I have no ideal if there is a government office that actually has any say in what Canada Post sets its rates to. I know they presented the price increase information to the government (because they made sure to make the announcement the day after parliament broke for Xmas) but whether anyone outside of Canada Post has any say, ? ? ?

Anyhow, I really should learn to finish my pot of coffee before I start typing so that my postings don't turn into rantings like this one.


Rick