You can still pick up a change of address card at the post office.  You have to ask at the counter for them.  They are promoting the Internet Change of Adddress pretty heavily. 

There are a lot of people who would be happy to pay a dollar not to have to go to the post office.

But for anyone who doesn't want to pay a dollar or doesn't have a computer, the cards are available at the post office behind the counter.  have to ask for them.

The $1.00 online charge has been around for a few years, at least. I think it's because you don't have to actually sign the online thing, so the credit card charge lets them capture your electronic signature. That's how they make sure it's actually you changing your address.

ETA: You actually have to sign the paper change of address form.

The credit card charge is also a way of verifying identification.  It prevents any number of issues that could come up if someone decided to forward your mail without your knowledge.

Also, USPS is one of the few, if not only, postal service that forwards mail (and does vacation holds) free.  In other countries they charge for the service, either by the piece or for a certain length of time.  If USPS ever gets it's head together and completely operates as a business, or becomes privatized, they will also stop giving away money losing services.

I agree.  Consider this:

someone has obtained your information and completed a credit card application.  In order for them to get the actual card (short of stealing it out of your box) they hit upon the solution of getting your mail delivered to a new distination.  A Change of Address would be their solution.  By requiring someone to pay, it helps removes some of anonymity of this process allowing for a means to trace the requestor.