Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The governing board of the U.S. Postal Service voted unanimously Monday to institute new rates, including a 32-cent first-class stamp.
The increase is the first in four years and is below the 12.2 percent inflation for that period, said Sam Winters, chairman of the postal board.
The higher price will cost a family mailing 15 letters a week an extra 45 cents in postage.
The package is expected to bring the Postal Service $4.7 billion in added income in 1995. The post office lost $914 million in the just-completed fiscal year and $1.7 billion the year before.
The independent Postal Rate Commission approved the new rates in late November after nearly nine months of hearings.
Post offices will sell an unpriced stamp picturing a flag and the letter G to cover the new rate until 32-cent stamps can be printed. The stamp can be used only for domestic mail.
The decision of the rate commission was approved under protest by the postal governors, but their concerns centered on the method the commission used to determine certain rates. The protest will not affect rates.
Charges for international mail also will increase, but the date and amounts have not been determined, postal officials said.
While the price for sending the first ounce of a first-class letter rises from 29 cents to 32 cents, each extra ounce will cost 23 cents, the same as at present. The cost to send a postcard rises from 19 cents to 20 cents.
by CNB