Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

Rejiggering the schedule

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

It now appears postal rates are going to change every May, rising by the rate of inflation. 
It removes the uncertainty of when and by how much prices will rise, and that makes printing 
new stamps easier. So, says Dave Failor, the postal executive in charge of the stamp program, 
we'll see most of the year's stamps issued AFTER the rate change. 

"We're not going to issue very many stamps in March with the old denomination knowing that 
six weeks later the price is going to change" :06

There will be fewer of each stamp.

"Our print runs are more than likely going to be less for the commemorative stamps, simply 
because they're not going to have the same shelf life" :06

And maybe not as many DIFFERENT stamps.

"Right now, our target is 20 to 25, and we're going to leave it there, pending the next year 
or so to see how things go, but I can't imagine that we would ever, except maybe under rare
circumstances, do more than that, and the possibility could be that we would do less" :14

But series like Black Heritage and Christmas would remain.

And that's stamp collecting this week. I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

----------------------------------------------------------

[Longer Version]

Download this report as an MP3 sound file.

Rejiggering the schedule

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

It now appears U-S postal rates are going to change every May, rising by the rate of inflation. 
The Postal Service will announce the new rates 90 days earlier. That should make planning when 
to release new stamps easier.

"In the old system, there would be this nine-month process of asking for a rate increase and 
then going through all the hearings and all the stuff that you have to go through, and not really 
knowing what that final rate was going to be until the very end, and then have to scramble to try 
to catch up and get the stamps printed" :16

Dave Failor is the executive in charge of the stamp program. Even though nothing was official 
until the Postal Board of Governors signed off on it, his department could predict.

"Our prices are capped by the Consumer Price Index, so we knew that it was not going to be any 
higher than 2.9%" :06

For the past two years, because of the uncertainty over the rate changes, very few stamps have 
been issued in the first four months of the year, and that's likely to continue.

"We're not going to issue very many stamps in March with the old denomination knowing that six 
weeks later the price is going to change" :06

So we'll see Lunar New Year and Black Heritage stamps in January, a stamp at a New York collectors 
show in March, and maybe one other before rates change. Another difference:

"Our print runs are more than likely going to be less for the commemorative stamps, simply because
they're not going to have the same shelf life" :06

Failor says the new rate system could also affect the number of stamps issued.

"Right now, our target is 20 to 25, and we're going to leave it there, pending the next year or so 
to see how things go, but I can't imagine that we would ever, except maybe under rare circumstances, 
do more than that, and the possibility could be that we would do less" :14

I'm Lloyd de Vries.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting, 
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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

Go to Report Index