Postal Rates

Higher postage rates, including a 25-cent charge for first-class mail, will begin April 3, the Postal Service announced Tuesday. The new rates reflect the higher cost of delivering the mail, John L. Griesemer, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, said. "To all our customers, we can only repeat our pledge of better service," he said. An undenominated "E" stamp available for interim use will represent 25 cents postage when the new rates take effect.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein rushed to the Senate chamber last Thursday for damage control. "We'll lose anyway," her dispirited legislative aide said, just before the California Democrat dashed out. What set her in motion were the impassioned remarks of Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was trying to torpedo Feinstein's plan for an optional 33-cent, first-class postage stamp that would devote a penny to breast cancer research. Americans willing to contribute could use it in place of the 32-cent stamp.

Pitney Bowes Inc. said it filed a lawsuit against rival Stamps.com Inc. for infringing four patents on processes that let consumers track and compare shipping-rate information using the Internet. Pitney, the largest maker of postage meters, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas. The companies each sell postage services online, including the ability to compare rates for different freight carriers and to track packages and parcels. Stamps.

A battle over proposed record postal rate increases loomed Tuesday after the Postal Service won the first round in its attempt to raise the cost of mailing a first-class letter to 30 cents by next February. The 19% average rate increase, the largest ever in percentage terms, is being proposed only three years after the last price hike, which raised the cost of mailing a first-class letter to 25 cents from 22 cents.

New Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank, on the eve of a postal rate increase, rejected as "nonsense" White House Budget Director James C. Miller III's proposal that the Postal Service be sold to private contractors. Frank, in an ABC News "Business World" interview taped for airing today, said: "I don't think (the Postal Service) should lose money, and it shouldn't make a profit, which means (it should) break even.

The U.S. Postal Service will suffer its worst deficit ever next year--more than $1.5 billion--but Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank plans no cutbacks in post office operating hours or delivery schedules. Frank said he is confident that an ambitious cost-reduction program, heavily dependent on automation, can keep the postal system's finances under control until the next rate increase, expected in 1991.

United Parcel Service of America Inc., the world's top package-delivery company, said it will raise rates about 2.5% next year, the smallest increase in 11 years, helped by the lowest oil prices in more than a decade. Separately, UPS said it will test a hybrid gasoline-electric truck starting early next year as it seeks to lower automobile emissions and fuel costs. The trucks to be tested in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Johnson City, N.Y.

The Historic Preservation Series of postal cards by the U.S. Postal Service has added another worthy site to its prominent list. A new 20-cent stamped card has been issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University of Utah. This is the 41st card in the series, which began in 1977 with a 9-cent card in tribute to the Federal Court House in Galveston, Texas. Featured on the new card is the John R. Park Building on the Utah campus. It was completed in 1914. Founded Feb.

The Postal Service is getting ready to kick off the complex process of raising rates, a step that could mean higher stamp prices early next year. Major mailers have been on edge in recent months, anticipating the action that many expect to be announced Tuesday at the monthly meeting of the Postal Service's board of governors. "I think it's about 95% likely that the governors will approve a filing," said Neal Denton of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.