Postage increases aim to keep USPS afloat

The U.S. Postal Service has attempted in recent months to lower costs and improve revenue forecasts. The Postal Service lost $1.68 billion last year. Cuts included a freeze on new construction and 12,000 jobs. Even so, the Postal Service anticpated a loss of $1.35 billion this year.

Then September's terrorist attacks occurred, followed by anthrax-contaminated mail which cost hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup, repairs and decontamination.

As a result, postage rates are going up, probably by June 1. In an unusual step, the Postal Service has worked out agreements with more than 60 organizations and businesses that are the biggest users of mail services. The cost of a first-class stamp will increase to 37 cents from the current 34 cents. The rates for periodicals and parcel post will go up 10 percent overall.

Even with the increases, today's postal rates are a bargain when compared to the cost of sending a letter in the early history of Cape Girardeau. As reported by student Raymond Harp in his essay on "Cape Girardeau's rich history" in Tuesday's Southeast Missourian, a first-class letter mailed in Cape Girardeau to be delivered in Jackson would have cost 25 cents in the early 1800s when the first postal service was established here. That's more than $2.80 in today's dollars.