A Hedge Against Inflation?

Forever stamps have recently caught my interest.  On January 26, 2014, the price of a postage stamp will go up to 49 cents from 46 cents:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/24/22038264-first-class-stamps-to-cost-49-cents-as-of-jan-26?lite

That means a forever stamp purchased today will cost an additional three cents more in about three weeks.  Years ago, people started to notice that purchasing forever stamps prior to a rate increase might hedge against inflation:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/19/pf/forever_stamps_investment.fortune/

As this article mentions, others think it's for "wackos".  Of course, the fiscal health of the USPS is another consideration.  Here are some other articles on Forever stamps:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201428.html

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/forever-stamps-start-hoarding-now

None of this is intended as financial advice or guidance.  Here we have a collection of articles with varying opinions on something as seemingly uncontroversial as a postage stamp.  In a lot of ways, it gets to the root of a lot of economic issues such as the time value of money and so on.  Until next time, catch me in the library.