"Forever" a good value before postage increase

Mailing a letter will be more expensive next week after first-class stamps rise a penny to 42 cents on Monday. But you can save a little money by buying a supply of forever stamps at the current postage rate of 41 cents before then.

The Forever stamps give customers a chance to lock in the cost of a first-class stamp, but if you wait until Monday their price will also increase to 42 cents eliminating any savings.

 You can also save by going online at usps.com and printing postage for Express and Priority mail. Starting next week there will be a 3 percent discount on that kind of postage compared to counter sales at your local post office.

To utilize the service you have to have a computer, printer and a scale to measure the weight of the package.