POST MASTER GENERAL RAISES RATES

WRITE LETTERS, USE STAMPS, SAVE JOBS

The US Post Master General John E. Potter announced effective Tuesday May 12th first class postage stamps increase a cent to 42 cents.
What’s a penny worth these days. Let’s put it in perspective. The US Treasury is thinking of discontinuing the penny because it’s no longer profitable. It costs two cents to mint one. To the US Postal Service and it’s 786,000 employees, one cent is huge. The Post Office sends 9.5 billion pieces of mail a year. You do the math.
The common perception is the penny has little to no value. They’re more annoying than helpful. To the average consumer who mails a few monthly bills it’s small change. There used to be a saying. “See a penny pick it up, now you’ll have good luck”. Now even kids pass them by.
Will some use a penny as an excuse? Will this increase deter people from taking pen to paper? Will writing become a quaint custom from a by-gone era? In 2009 I vowed somewhat nostalgically to keep in touch in a more traditional way by writing more often in manuscript form. I’m not shilling for Hallmark or American Greetings but the surprise of getting a note in the post can make someone’s day. I like letters because one’s scroll and script illustrates a bit of one's personality.
I have a friend, Richard Raleigh, a professor of literature at St. Thomas University my alma mater who began teaching there 47 years ago in 1966, a remakable feat in itself. During that time he’s probably shared his insights on Whitmann and Hemingway with 50,000 students. And ever since I have been provileged to have been the recepient of his thoughtful poetry, Christmas wishes and amusing post cards penned from Spain and beyond. Certainly as prolific as he is, many others were beneficiaries of his hand written missives. I believe I’ve kept them all.
The next time you spy a cent on the sidewalk, pick it up. Put it in a jar marked Stamps. In this way, they’ll be re-introduced into circulation. Write your friends and family personalized letters in long hand. Reserve your bill paying for the internet.
As Master Card might put it: Buying 15 first class stamps: $6.30; Buying a birthday card: $2.99. Making someone smile, priceless.