Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations November 5-6, 2005:

Let The Games Begin

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

Sometime this month, the Postal Service's Governors will make a final decision whether to 
raise rates. They can accept the Postal Rate Commission's recommendations, reject them, or 
some combination.

Then the fun begins for the people who MAKE stamps.

The Postal Service has some non-denominated stop-gap stamps already printed. They feature 
the Statue of Liberty and the flag, but when they'll be issued isn't set. One guess is 
mid-December.

The first commemoratives with the new rates will be Children's Book Illustrations, on 
January Tenth, about a week before the rate hike -- if any -- is expected to go into effect. 
But these stamps can't be printed until the rates are set.

There will also have to be new stamps for Priority Mail, Express Mail, two-ounce letters, 
and so on. The designs are set -- although WE don't know what they are -- but not the 
rates.

So, all in all, it's going to be a busy few months for the Postal Service -- and stamp 
collectors.

And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 

----------------------------------------------------------
Go to Previous Report
Go to Next Report 

Go to Report Index