Considering the service rendered, anywhere in the US for .41 cents, it's PRETTY good. Stamp costs increase as a reaction to rising costs of opperating. Gas prices, salary increases, whatever. All of these things cost more to run the postal service and in order to cover the costs, eventually stamps have to go up in price to compensate for the higher cost of opperation.
It's still dirt cheap in relation to how easy the service is to use. Considering they pick up at your door, or you can drop off at the millions of mailboxed and post offices nation wide.
Not a bad deal for .49 when you look at it. It would probably cost you more money in time/gasoline to drive an envalope yourself when you think about it.
Edit - Also the other thing you have to remember. The post office is able to function at such a low cost per envalope, because of shipping in BULK. Things like E-mail are reducing the number of people sending envalopes, so with less letters being shipped, there are less consumners to spread the opperating costs around. So thats another reason why prices are going up.
