Your view: Postage ponderings

I saw on the news the Post Office is going to raise the price of a stamp to mail a first class letter. I can understand the need of the increase as almost every thing has increased lately.

But there are some things I don't understand, for instance, I have some 29 cent stamps I bought a few years ago. When I purchased these stamps I was told I could mail a first class letter with one of them. Now if I want to mail a letter with one, I have to pay another 12 cents. I feel if I pay for a first class stamp, I should be able to mail a first class letter, no matter how old it is. Also, if I want to get my letter delivered faster, I can use priority mail or express mail and pay an additional fee to get it to its destination faster. I thought first class mail was first class mail.

By the same token, I receive letters all the time from businesses marked first class and postage printed on them much less than the current rate. I can't understand how come there is such a difference in price of a first class letter.

A also noticed they continually put different pictures of people on stamps so people will buy and collect them instead of using them. I recently asked them to put my picture on a series of stamps, and they told me that you had to be dead to have your picture on a stamp, I suppose to keep from having to pay royalties. Then, they sold me a book of stamps with pictures of Santa Claus on them, and I know he's not dead.

Leon Edwards