POSTAGE INCREASE DRAWS NEAR

The Jan. 1 postage rate increase will cost people who mail 20 letters a month an additional 60 cents a month or $7.20 a year.

The 29-cent stamp will cost 32 cents Jan. 1.

But for companies that depend on the mail the cost will be much higher. Some companies are rushing to mail before Jan. 1 to beat the increase; others are changing the way they mail.

Vince Adelman, division manager for Solar Press in Perryville, said his mail customers have insisted mailings be completed before the end of the year.

"Historically, the work we are now completing would be done over the next two or three weeks," he said.

Each week, the company addresses and mails 3 million pieces of advertising and promotions, mostly for publishing companies.

The rate change had a bigger long-term effect for the company. Solar Press bought a $300,000 machine to cut costs for its customers.

"Much of the mail we do is in polybags," Adelman said. Those plastic bags can't be processed through post office machines, raising the handling costs.

Solar Press's new machine puts mail in paper envelopes.

"We are also looking at using our current machines with paper-poly combination," he said.

VIP Industries, one of Cape Girardeau's largest mailers, changed the way it processes mail to counter the rate increase. The company mails thousands of comic books, magazine subscriptions and other items each week.

Hilary Schmittzehe with VIP Industries said items the business prepares for mailing from different companies will be sorted together to get a better postage rate.

"The post office says it will be easier this way than the way we were doing it," Schmittzehe said. "That remains to be seen."

He added that some items that used to be mailed are now faxed to save both time and money.

The last postage rate increase four years ago raised the price of first-class stamps to 29 cents.

Cape Girardeau Postmaster Michael Keefe said, "People ask why didn't you just raise it to 30 cents then, or why don't you go ahead and raise it to 35 cents now?"

The post office is mandated to break even. A study determined that it costs 32 cents to mail a letter, so that's what the post office will charge, he said.

The 32-cent G-series stamps have been on sale since Dec. 13 and feature an American flag. Stamps printed with 32 cents should be available in a month.

"Make-up" rate stamps are also being sold. These stamps, with a picture of a dove holding an olive branch in its beak, are designed to be used with a 29-cent stamp to "make up" the 3-cent difference.

The "make up" stamps are sold individually so customers may buy the number they need.

A book of 20, 32-cent stamps will cost $6.40.

Individuals who owe money to the post office for box rent or permits can save money by paying this week before the change.

Since the rate increase was announced, post offices have been cutting their supply of 29-cent stamps.

Keefe estimates the Cape Girardeau office has about $20,000 worth of 29-cent stamps. Usually the office keeps about half a million dollars in stamps on hand.

The 29-cent stamps left over will eventually be sent off and destroyed.

The rate increase won't have much impact on the collectibility of 29-cent stamps, Keefe said.

"There are way too many of them available," he said.

In fact, he said the G-series and make-up stamps would likely become collectible before most 29-cent stamps.

Keefe said the rate increase, unlike past hikes, has met with little opposition.

"We have tried to make it palatable," he said. "We are the only government agency that pays their own way."