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01-12-2006, 08:49 AM
December 31, 2005
Last modified December 31, 2005 - 12:32 am
http://www.billingsgazette.com/rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/images/40-stamp-price.gif (javascript:opennewwindow('rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/40-stamp-price_large.inc','','width=360,height=460,scrollba rs=yes,resizable=yes');)click to enlarge image (javascript:opennewwindow('rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/40-stamp-price_large.inc','','width=360,height=460,scrollba rs=yes,resizable=yes');) http://www.billingsgazette.com/images/tablocal.gif
2-cent jump in stamp cost comes Jan. 8
By ANGIE BUCKLEY
Of The Gazette Staff
If you're late getting out those Christmas cards, you'll want to be sure they're in the mail before Jan. 8, when the first-class stamp price increases to 39 cents.
The increase is the first since 2002, when stamps went from 34 cents to 37 cents. The 2006 boost is necessitated by a federal law passed in 2003 that requires the U.S. Postal Service to develop a $3.1 billion escrow account.
Ted Blazina, marketing manager for the Montana Big Sky Service District of the Postal Service, said businesses that send a lot of mail will feel the largest effect of the price change. There aren't any Montana businesses that have to budget millions for postage, he said, but those that send out advertising via mail in high volumes are trying to beat the rate increase by mailing early.
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Jim Duncan, spokesman for Billings Clinic, said the clinic does a lot of correspondence as a result of the organization's billing system, from patients to insurance companies and back again. As a result, postage is a significant line item in the budget, and the clinic will have to find resources to pay for the increase from other areas, he said.
"We won't stop any mailing, but we'll have to be careful and prudent with the mail we do send out," he said.
For mail senders who have plenty of 37-cent stamps in their drawers and purses, Blazina promises an adequate supply of 2-cent stamps at post offices. Otherwise, the difference will have to be paid on the receiving side.
"A lot of people, myself included, have 37-cent stamps that they haven't used, and they'll buy the 2-cent stamps to make up the difference," Blazina said. "But people who are coming in now, who are purchasing postage … will buy some 39-cent (stamps)."
Chris Hutchinson, the owner of Signed, Sealed & Delivered, a packaging and mailing store, said he's not foreseeing major changes at his business. Some people will "quibble" about the increase, as in 2002, he said, but most people won't be too disturbed by the price increase.
"Most people realize that's pretty inexpensive to get something from one place in the country to another for that price, especially when you're talking 2 cents," Hutchinson said.
Contact Angie Buckley at abuckley@billingsgazette.com (abuckley@billingsgazette.com) or 657-1241.
New postage rates:
<LI>First-class letter (1 ounce), 39 cents.
<LI>First-class letter (2 ounce), 60 cents.
<LI>Postcard, 24 cents.
<LI>Priority Mail (1 pound), $4.05.
<LI>Express Mail (1/2 pound), $14.40.
<LI>Express Mail (2 pounds), $18.80.
Fees and services:
<LI>Certified Mail, $2.40.
<LI>Delivery Confirmation (Priority), 50 cents.
<LI>Delivery Confirmation (first-class parcels), 60 cents.
<LI>Return Receipt (original signature), $1.85.
<LI>Return Receipt (electronic), $1.35.
Money Orders (up to $500), 95 cents.
Last modified December 31, 2005 - 12:32 am
http://www.billingsgazette.com/rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/images/40-stamp-price.gif (javascript:opennewwindow('rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/40-stamp-price_large.inc','','width=360,height=460,scrollba rs=yes,resizable=yes');)click to enlarge image (javascript:opennewwindow('rednews/2005/12/31/build//local/40-stamp-price_large.inc','','width=360,height=460,scrollba rs=yes,resizable=yes');) http://www.billingsgazette.com/images/tablocal.gif
2-cent jump in stamp cost comes Jan. 8
By ANGIE BUCKLEY
Of The Gazette Staff
If you're late getting out those Christmas cards, you'll want to be sure they're in the mail before Jan. 8, when the first-class stamp price increases to 39 cents.
The increase is the first since 2002, when stamps went from 34 cents to 37 cents. The 2006 boost is necessitated by a federal law passed in 2003 that requires the U.S. Postal Service to develop a $3.1 billion escrow account.
Ted Blazina, marketing manager for the Montana Big Sky Service District of the Postal Service, said businesses that send a lot of mail will feel the largest effect of the price change. There aren't any Montana businesses that have to budget millions for postage, he said, but those that send out advertising via mail in high volumes are trying to beat the rate increase by mailing early.
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Jim Duncan, spokesman for Billings Clinic, said the clinic does a lot of correspondence as a result of the organization's billing system, from patients to insurance companies and back again. As a result, postage is a significant line item in the budget, and the clinic will have to find resources to pay for the increase from other areas, he said.
"We won't stop any mailing, but we'll have to be careful and prudent with the mail we do send out," he said.
For mail senders who have plenty of 37-cent stamps in their drawers and purses, Blazina promises an adequate supply of 2-cent stamps at post offices. Otherwise, the difference will have to be paid on the receiving side.
"A lot of people, myself included, have 37-cent stamps that they haven't used, and they'll buy the 2-cent stamps to make up the difference," Blazina said. "But people who are coming in now, who are purchasing postage … will buy some 39-cent (stamps)."
Chris Hutchinson, the owner of Signed, Sealed & Delivered, a packaging and mailing store, said he's not foreseeing major changes at his business. Some people will "quibble" about the increase, as in 2002, he said, but most people won't be too disturbed by the price increase.
"Most people realize that's pretty inexpensive to get something from one place in the country to another for that price, especially when you're talking 2 cents," Hutchinson said.
Contact Angie Buckley at abuckley@billingsgazette.com (abuckley@billingsgazette.com) or 657-1241.
New postage rates:
<LI>First-class letter (1 ounce), 39 cents.
<LI>First-class letter (2 ounce), 60 cents.
<LI>Postcard, 24 cents.
<LI>Priority Mail (1 pound), $4.05.
<LI>Express Mail (1/2 pound), $14.40.
<LI>Express Mail (2 pounds), $18.80.
Fees and services:
<LI>Certified Mail, $2.40.
<LI>Delivery Confirmation (Priority), 50 cents.
<LI>Delivery Confirmation (first-class parcels), 60 cents.
<LI>Return Receipt (original signature), $1.85.
<LI>Return Receipt (electronic), $1.35.
Money Orders (up to $500), 95 cents.