Earlier this year I wrote an article about how to invest in non-denominated stamps, eg: Canada’s Permanent Stamps.
I purchased a coil of stamps at 63 cents each with the assumption that as the price of stamps increase over time (like they have been doing throughout history) my stamps would also increase in value to match the domestic postage price at any present time in the future. Well last week Canada Post announced that next year these stamps are going to cost 85 cents each when bought in a coil or booklet 🙂 And they will cost 100 cents each if bought individually. The changes will take effect at the end of March 2014.
This is great news for myself and any readers who have followed my investment idea. That’s a 35% (85/63) return on stamp investment in less than one year （⌒▽⌒）Many small businesses who send a lot of letters are angry about the planned price hike, so that means there is a good amount of demand for stamps out there adding liquidity in the stamp market 😉
Soon after the price change announcement, Canada Post suspended the sale of all permanent stamps 🙁 But don’t worry if you missed out on this one. I’m sure there will be more investment opportunities like this in the future. I’m currently planning to write a post on how to easily take advantage of undervalued economies by using the currency market 🙂
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Random Useless Fact: Earth is the only planet in the solar system not to be named after a mythical God.
You know I thought about this before when the USPS introduced the “Forever” stamp. Not a bad idea and a pretty nice return, because you know that stamp prices will continue to increase. I just checked it out and surprisingly the price increase here in the US hasn’t been that bad. Around 2% per year.
Same with us up here. Usually about 2 to 3 percent. This is the first time they’re raising the cost by so much. The problem the post office has is dealing with increasing costs while people are mailing less letters. I wouldn’t mind if we did something similar to what the U.K. Royal Mail has done earlier this year, which is privatize the postal service lol.
So you bought a stash to resell then?
Yup. Will resell them at a later date. But I’ll also use them myself in the mean time. Which reminds me, I should mail out that cheque for my property taxes in the boonies before the end of the month. Although most of the world has gone digital with financial transactions, there are still some systems that are slow to adapt which requires the bill to be paid the old fashioned way. If for some reason I can’t find a buyer, I’ll just hand the left over stamps to charity or something.
I placed order for 15 rolls for work on Thursday hope it wasn’t too late. Stupid how they suspended the sale of the 63 cent stamps.
Smart move. Hopefully your order went through. If your work runs out by next year I will sell you some of mine. I’ll only charge 80 cents each because you get the 5 cent friend discount 😀
I was just thinking yesterday I needed some more stamps 🙁
Stamps aren’t something people buy often anymore. It seems like a really good deal to me that we can still send a letter from B.C. to P.E.I for just 63 cents today 🙂
That is not bad, not bad at all. It’s actually quite a good investment, stamp collecting that is. A lot of people are still doing it despite the technology that has put it to near extinction.
I’m more into collecting coins but I can see myself getting into stamps as well, maybe in the future.
I bought one 100 coil at 63 cents on the same day of the announcement.
But I was hesitant to buy more because I wasn’t convinced they would appreciate too much in value 😛 😀
Canada Post is full of surprises. Who knows what they’re planning to do in the years to come 🙂
In the US we now have the forever stamp. Sadly, I didn’t load up on them when they first came out! 35% is an awesome return!
Investors like us have to be constantly finding new ways to push the envelope 😀
Nice post. 🙂
Thanks :0) Hopefully your friend won’t be affected too much by the changes.
I do not think he will be, as they will always need someone to handle poor service claims, and arguably his prospects may go up based on these announcements… You know for some odd reason, I have this wan to visit New Zealand now… – Cheers.
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