Penny Pinching

Stamp increase takes effect

By Maria Sprow

Daily Staff Reporter

Starting Sunday, students wanting to keep in touch with family and friends the old-fashioned way might have to start digging for more pennies to send their mail. The cost for first-class postage stamps is once again being raised a penny, to 34 cents.

The U.S. Postal Rate Commission made the decision to raise the cost of postage for first-class mail, after reporting a $1 billion dollar loss in 2000. The last time the commission raised postage was in 1999, from 32 cents to 33 cents.

Cries of "outrageous" were heard yesterday inside the Ann Arbor Post Office, where postal patrons debated the high prices of mailing and shipping and handling.

"I wish they would go up less often because its such a hassle when you already have stamps," University graduate student Jen Blanchette said while standing in a long line to buy the new 34-cent stamps.

Washtenaw County resident Georgia Carpenter said the post office should maintain the same cost or lower it.

"I don't think it's fair. It's too much, if you think of how many letters go out each day," Carpenter said.

The average household sends about 15 first-class letters a month, which means that each year the average family will spend an extra $1.80 sending letters, said Ed Moore, manager of communications for the Detroit Post Office.

Moore said soaring gasoline prices caused the increase. Higher fuel prices forced the postal service to spend a lot more money just to transport mail.

The penny increase will not make up for the billion-dollar loss, but it will ensure that the U.S. Postal System will not suffer another loss this year, Moore said. "It will help, but the postal service is not looking for a profit," he said. "This is one increase where we are not going to be making any money in the first year."

Many postage consumers wonder why the cost isn't raised to a round number like 35 cents. But Moore said, "We don't want people to pay more for postage than they should have to pay."

Sometimes people are more hassled by the one extra penny than by the extra cost increase, Moore said, but he does not anticipate that individuals will decrease the amount of mail they send.

"We have one of the best postal systems in the world. We go to every household six days a week. Our level of service is not done by any other business in the country," he said.

"People are still going to mail," he said, adding that although e-mail has had a major impact on the mailing industry, "there is nothing more heartwarming than receiving a card or wedding invitation in the mail. I don't know of any bride who wants to e-mail their wedding invitations out."

DAVID KATZ/Daily

An Ann Arbor resident and her son buy new 34-cent stamps at the U.S. Post Office on West Stadium Boulevard yesterday.