First-class stamp price goes up to 41 cents Monday

The price of a first-class stamp will rise 2 cents Monday, but postal patrons can avoid future increases with the new Forever Stamp.

The Forever Stamp will always cover the cost of a one-ounce letter, no matter what the price is. Other postage rates will also change Monday.

To accompany the changes, the U.S. Postal Service has also introduced shape-based pricing, which determines postage based on size rather than the current system based on weight.

The measures by the Postal Regulatory Commission are to address inflation in a time when fewer letters are being sent because of e-mail and online bill paying.

But according to Charles Guy, former director of the Postal Service's Office of Economics and Strategic Planning, those measures won't be enough. Increases in stamp prices will need to become annual or else postal funding will have to come from federal coffers, he said.

"Why would the postal service want a Forever Stamp if they weren't going to raise the price again?" Guy said.

Guy said the Forever Stamp is just a distraction from getting the real work done, which, he said, is getting rid of labor contracts in the postal system.

"Postal systems are going private in the rest of the world," Guy said. "We're way behind the eight ball."

However, Richard Watkins, spokesman of the Mid-America Postal District in Kansas City, said other countries cannot be compared with the United States because the postal service delivers 46 percent of the total volume of the world's mail.

"Many times people want to compare apples to eggplant," he said, adding that he disagrees that postal rates are going to increase on a regular basis.

According to Watkins, every time the price of gas goes up one penny, the USPS pays $8 million more annually to adjust. The service has 37,000 post offices and 260,000 vehicles driven by postal workers six days a week. The delivery network grows by 2 million address points each year.

"We still consider the price of a stamp a great bargain," Watkins said.

Although the price of the stamp is going up, heavier letters like wedding invitations will be reduced in price because each additional ounce will cost 17 cents rather than the current 24 cents.

In addition to the first-class stamp, postage for postcards, priority mail, express mail, international mail and parcels will also cost more Monday.

Details on new size restrictions can be found at www.usps.com. Mailers are encouraged to consider options available to reduce postage costs. For example, if the contents of a first-class large envelope are folded and placed in a letter-sized envelope, people can reduce postage by as much as 39 cents.

The Postal Service Web site in recent years has added more ways to access services from home. For instance, stamps can be purchased online and postage and mailing labels could be printed out.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137