[Dx-qsl] Re: Postal Service seeks price increase, 'forever stamp'

Thu Jan 25 09:30:08 EST 2007

Below FYI 73 Al w3awu
> Postal Service seeks price increase, 'forever stamp'
> Updated 5/3/2006 11:36 PM ETE-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & 
>>> By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
> Oh, no, not again.
> Yes, again. The U.S. Postal Service, which raised the price of a 
> first-class camp to 39 cents in January, wants to boost it again - to
42 cents.
> But this time, there's a twist. As early as next spring, if the 
> Postal Service has its way, you could buy a roll of 42-cent "forever 
> stamps" that would remain valid for, well, forever.
> No more need to run out for 2- or 3-cent stamps to cover the next 
> price increase. No more need to paste two old stamps on an envelope 
> because you can't get to the post office. One forever stamp would be
all you'd 
> need for a standard one-ounce letter, regardless of how high prices
go.
> "You wouldn't have to wait in line to get the extra 2-cent stamp, 
> you wouldn't be confused about rates going up and you'd feel more 
> comfortable buying stamps," Ruth Goldway of the independent U.S.
Postal Rate 
> Commission, which has to weigh in on the plan, told USA TODAY.
> If the commission backs the proposals to raise the first-class stamp 
> price to 42 cents and create a forever stamp, the changes could take 
> effect by next May.
> Would-be stamp hoarders, be aware: The Postal Service is likely to 
> limit the quantities of forever stamps bought at any one time, Goldway
said.
> In asking for a rate increase, the Postal Service notes that, like 
> consumers and businesses, it's reeling from high gas prices and health
care 
> expenses. 
 The service operates more than 260,000 mail-delivery cars. It's also 
> grappling with soaring health care costs for its employees.
> The forever stamp could be a boon, at least in the short term, for 
> the Postal Service's budget: The agency would get cash now for stamps 
> used later. And its clerks won't have to waste time selling 2-cent 
> stamps.
> The commission has seldom denied a requested price increase. As for 
> the forever stamp, "It's eventually going to happen," says George Omas,

> the commission chairman, who favors it. "How and when is to be 
> determined."
> More than two dozen countries, including France and Finland, have 
> used this type of stamp, according to Goldway's research.
> The forever stamp would let people hedge against future rate 
> increases. But its price would rise along with that of the first-class
stamp. So 
> people who wait for a subsequent price increase to buy the forever
stamp would 
> have to pay a higher rate for it.
> The stamp "sounds like a good idea," says Claudie Pierre, 26, of New 
> York, who was mailing letters at a Manhattan post office. "I hope that
it 
> happens, but you never know how things can change." 
>
 ALFRED CAMMARATA
 W3AWU