No reason to go postal

May 11th marks the rise of the postage stamp (per 1 ounce mailing, in case you were wondering). Having failed to stock up on the Forever stamps*, I am now stuck with having to plunk down 44 cents per normal letter I write. We've come a long way since the 2 cent days of 1885, but here is a rundown since 1975, taken from the website of a way too diligent citizen.

September 14, 1975.....10¢
December 31, 1975.....13¢
May 29, 1978.....15¢
March 22, 1981.....18¢
November 1, 1981.....20¢
February 17, 1985.....22¢
April 3, 1988.....25¢
February 3, 1991.....29¢
January 1, 1995.....32¢
January 10, 1999.....33¢
January 7, 2001.....34¢
June 30, 2002.....37¢
January 8, 2006.....39¢
May 14, 2007.....41¢
May 12, 2008.....42¢
May 11, 2009.....44¢

*For those of you stuck in the digital world: the Forever stamp allows you to buy the stamp at the current 1st class price - but it can be used any time despite postal increases. To me, a brilliant idea so you don't have to cobble together a billion old stamps to meet the current price. Or you could run in the opposite direction and place a ton of small value stamps in a pattern to comprise your postal needs (love this idea. Both idea and picture found on Oh So Beautiful Paper, a blog I will probably become obsessed with).