Postage rates go up 3 cents

Monday, July 1, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

The price of mailing a first-class letter went up three cents Sunday, and local U.S. Postal Service officials say they have plenty of the new 37-cent denominations and three-cent "make-up" stamps in reserve.

"We have 11 million make-up stamps alone in the state," said Vic Fenimore, spokesman for the Las Vegas USPS office, referring to the red, white and blue "Star" stamp to be used to add to 34-cent stamps on hand.

"I imagine we'll be a little busier today but we are not expecting to run out. We have been so ready for this."

The last postal increase was in January 2000, when the rate went from 33 cents to 34 cents. In the 1990s when the postal rates increased, there were long lines and shortages of stamps at local post offices.

But Fenimore said postal officials had sufficient time to distribute hundreds of thousands of the five varieties of 37-cent stamps statewide. One variety features a U.S. flag. The other four depict antique toys -- a mail wagon, a steam locomotive, a taxicab and a fire truck -- on a sheet of 20 stamps.

The main Las Vegas post office on Sunset Road has 167,000 of the flag stamps and 187,000 of the antique toys, Fenimore said, noting that the main post office is the stamp distribution center for the entire state.

Letter rates are not the only one to rise. A postcard now costs 23 cents, two cents more than before. Priority mail increased from $3.50 for one pound to $3.85. Express mail increased from $12.45 for a half-pound to $13.65. Certified mail is up 20 cents to $2.30.

Also, insurance rates increased, a return receipt went from $1.50 to $1.75, a Post Office box went up $2 to a semiannual fee of $12, and Parcel Post increased an average of 6.4 percent.

The USPS estimates that with the 7.9-percent first-class postage increase, the average U.S. household will be paying about 45 cents more a month to mail letters.