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Stamp would let buyers lock in rates for mail

Which is good, since costs are likely going up.

WASHINGTON - No longer will people have to wonder if those old stamps in the bottom of the drawer are still good for postage. Nor will they have to cobble together a collection of small stamps to add up to a new price.

The Postal Regulatory Commission is recommending a new type of stamp - it has been dubbed "forever" - that sells for the first-class rate and remains valid to mail a letter no matter how much rates go up in the future.

On Monday, the commission also recommended a 2-cent increase in first-class rates to 41 cents, a penny less than the post office had sought. The panel also would sharply scale back the price of heavier letters.

"Adoption of this proposal is good for the Postal Service, postal customers and our postal system," commission chairman Dan G. Blair said at a briefing.

A forever stamp would not carry a denomination, but would sell for whatever the first-class rate was at the time.

For example, if the 41-cent rate takes effect, forever stamps would sell for 41 cents. If rates later climbed to 45 cents or more, the price of the forever stamp would also go up at the counter or machine, but those purchased before the change would still be valid to mail a letter. So there would be no need to buy small-denomination stamps to add to envelopes.

Blair said the rate proposals were scaled back because the higher rates the post office proposed would have raised more income than necessary for the service to break even in 2008.

FAST FACTS

What it would cost

Proposed rate changes include:

- Postcard, 26 cents, up from 24 cents.

- Additional weight after first ounce, 17 cents per ounce, down from 24 cents.

- Priority Mail, 1 pound, $4.60, up from $4.05.

- Express Mail, 8 ounces, $16.25, up from $14.40.

- Parcel post, 5 pounds, $5.67, up from $4.36.

- Certified Mail, $2.65, up from $2.40.

- Money orders up to $500, $1.05, up from 95 cents.

- Nonprofit mail, 1 ounce, 16.4 cents, down from 17.0 cents.

- Church bulletin, 12.7 cents, down from 18.9 cents.

-Library mail, 2 pounds, presorted, $1.88, up from $1.78.

[Last modified February 27, 2007, 01:08:50]