Boost In Post Card Mail Rate Considered

Mailing a post card would cost an extra penny - 21 cents - under a new rate proposal the Postal Service outlined Monday.

The package of pricing changes is aimed mostly at businesses. It’s designed to speed delivery of the nation’s mail by encouraging highvolume mailers to prepare their cards and letters in advance for machine sorting.

The cost of mailing a private letter, which increased to 32 cents in January, would be unchanged.

But individuals who mail picture post cards would be affected. Postal officials said post cards were included in the reclassification plan because more of them are mailed by businesses than individuals.

The reclassification plan is designed to give discounts to mailers who take steps to make the post office’s job easier, while raising rates for those that don’t.

Generally, large companies should be able to make the changes necessary to reap savings, postal officials said, while some small publications that go to a widely spread, specialized market may pay more.

Postal Service senior vice president Loren E. Smith called the proposal “a watershed change in the way we are pricing mail.”

“In the long run, the efficiency that this creates will help keep the cost of everyone’s mail lower,” Smith said.