OK, so this guy may qualify as an Illogical Rationalizer, the type of consumer who spends money with the sometimes-dubious rationale that it’ll save him money in the long run. But you gotta love a guy who has the stones to try to beat the system by impulsively purchasing $820 in postage stamps.
David Stolow tells his own story in Fortune, writing:
Let’s be real, who would go out and buy a supply of more than one year’s worth of stamps? Only some wacko would go out and do something like that just to beat some hypothetical future rate increase imposed by an agency that some people, many of whom are decidedly not wackos, think is going to disappear.
Stolow bought 2,000 Forever Stamps for $820 in 2008, just before the price of a stamp went from 41¢ to 42¢—and yes, he got and continues to get very strange looks from the clerks at his post office.
The price of a stamp, which should probably cost 30¢ now if it had risen only with inflation, has since increased to 44¢, and is expected to rise again in 2011 to 46¢. At that time, 2,000 stamps would cost $920 — $100 more than what Stolow paid. Who’s looking not-totally-crazy now?