home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=90TT0678>
- <title>
- Mar. 19, 1990: American Notes:Postage
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Mar. 19, 1990 The Right To Die
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 25
- American Notes
- POSTAGE
- Up, Up and Away
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> If the U.S. Postal Service has its way, Americans will soon
- have to pay an extra $10 a year for stamps. Last week the
- agency announced that even though it plans to curtail service,
- it would seek an average 19% increase in 1991, less than three
- years after the previous jump of 16%. First-class postage will
- go from 25 cents to 30 cents, while rates for second- and
- third-class mail--the mainstay of catalog distributors and
- magazine publishers--will soar as much as 33%. Business and
- consumer groups are already organizing strong campaigns against
- the increases, which the Postal Rate Commission has ten months
- to vote on.
- </p>
- <p> Even Postmaster General Anthony Frank admits that, from the
- consumers' standpoint, the price hikes are "too much, too
- soon." Although the Postal Service has cut its work force by
- 20,000, to 758,000, it remains the nation's largest civilian
- employer, and Frank says he has no choice but to ask for the
- increases until he can get labor costs under control. The
- Postal Service is expected to lose $1.6 billion this year.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-