Go On Round To 46

The Postal Service has proposed a two-cent increase of the first-class postage rate to 46 cents, to be effective in January. This announcement is likely to cause groans and guffaws all over America, and how expensive it's getting to mail a letter.

Spare me. I don't want to hear it. Because sending a card or a letter for less than the price of a weekly community newspaper is still a bargain. And contrary to the Postal Service's reputation for inefficiency, you can send a card or a letter from one end of the country to another knowing that it will get there in two to three days. In Great Britain, people pay more for first-class postage on mailpieces going from one end of the country to another, and Britain is about the size of Oregon.

It is true that the Postal Service is trying to cut waste and get rid of less industrious employees. (I know the old joke about the post office having something in common with shoe stores; they're full of loafers.) It's also been losing money, necessitating this postage rate increase, and it's lost a lot of business to the Internet. But even though you're more likely to get e-mail than postal mail these days, wouldn't you really rather have a hand-delivered birthday card from a friend, rather than an electronic message from E-Greetings? When your Internet service provider goes down, don't you appreciate the fact that you can send information to the other end of this vast country for less than fifty cents?

So when you get that invitation to your niece's wedding from the brother you haven't heard from, and you're grateful for it, thank the mail carrier who delivered it to you.