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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Angelika The American postal service has to endure quite a bit of teasing because, even in the USA, it has a touch of bureaucracy about it. However, I swear by our post office on 24th Street and our good soul, the mailman George, who has been delivering mail in our neighborhood since time immemorial. He kindly leaves our packages from Germany at our apartment door when we're not home.
It is particularly unpopular when the postal service increases its fees and letters and postcards suddenly cost more. This has happened relatively frequently in recent years. When we moved here in 1996, a regular letter within America weighing up to one ounce (1 ounce = 28.35 grams) cost 32 cents. Now we pay 39 cents for it, and starting May 14, the postal service will raise the fee to 41 cents.
The evil email is to blame, as supposedly people are sending fewer letters, and the increase is intended to bring more money into the coffers. To appease public anger, the decision-makers at the United States Postal Services (that's what the postal service is called here) came up with the brilliant idea of introducing the "Forever" stamp to the market.
As the name suggests, this particular stamp is intended to remain valid even with future price increases. You pay the regular 41 cents now and can still stick it on the envelope in the future, even if, let's say, 43 cents are actually required. I naturally thought this would lead to panic buying, but when I stopped by the mentioned post office on 24th Street last week, I was still able to purchase the "Forever" stamp without any problems. However, the post office hasn't clearly indicated how long the stamp featuring the image of the Liberty Bell will be on the market.
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