WASHINGTON (AP) — Mailing a letter is about to get a little more expensive.Regulatorson
Tuesday approved a temporary price hike of 3 cents for a first-classstamp, bringing the charge to 49
cents a letter in an effort to helpthe Postal Service recover from severe mail decreases brought on by
the2008 economic downturn.Many consumers won’t feel the priceincrease immediately. Forever stamps, good
for first-class postagewhatever the future rate, can be purchased at the lower price until thenew rate
is effective Jan. 26.The higher rate will last no morethan two years, allowing the Postal Service to
recoup $2.8 billion inlosses. By a 2-1 vote, the independent Postal Regulatory Commissionrejected a
request to make the price hike permanent, though inflationover the next 24 months may make it so.The
surcharge "will last just long enough to recover the loss," Commission Chairman Ruth Y.
Goldway said.Bulkmail, periodicals and package service rates will rise 6 percent, adecision that drew
immediate consternation from the mail industry. Itsgroups have opposed any price increase beyond the
current 1.7 percentrate of inflation, saying charities using mass mailings and bookstorescompeting with
online retailer Amazon would be among those who suffer.Greeting card companies also have criticized the
plans."This is acounterproductive decision," said Mary G. Berner, president of theAssociation
of Magazine Media. "It will drive more customers away fromusing the Postal Service and will have
ripple effects through oureconomy — hurting consumers, forcing layoffs and impacting
businesses."Berner said her organization will consider appealing the decision before the U.S. Court
of Appeals.Forconsumers who have cut back on their use of mail for correspondence,the rate increase may
have little impact on their pocketbooks."Idon’t know a whole lot of people who truly, with the
exception ofpackages, really use snail mail anymore," said Kristin Johnson, a GreenBay, Wis.,
resident who was shopping in downtown Anchorage, Alaska,while visiting relatives and friends. "It’s
just so rare that I actuallymail anything at this point."The Postal Service is anindependent agency
that does not depend on tax money for its operationsbut is subject to congressional control. Under
federal law, it can’traise prices more than the rate of inflation without approval from
thecommission.The service says it lost $5 billion in the last fiscalyear and has been trying to get
Congress to pass legislation to helpwith its financial woes, including an end to Saturday mail delivery
andreduced payments on retiree health benefits.The figures through Sept. 30 were actually an improvement
for the agency from a $15.9 billion loss in 2012.Thepost office has struggled for years with declining
mail volume as aresult of growing Internet use and a 2006 congressional requirement thatit make annual
$5.6 billion payments to cover expected health carecosts for future retirees. It has defaulted on three
of those payments.Theregulators Tuesday stopped short of making the price increasespermanent, saying the
Postal Service had conflated losses it suffered asa result of Internet competition with business lost
because of theGreat Recession. They ordered the agency to develop a plan to phase outthe higher rates
once the lost revenue is recouped.It’s unclearwhere that would take rates for first-class postage in
2016. Theregular, inflation-adjusted price would have been 47 cents next year. Ifinflation rates average
2 percent over the next two years, regulatorscould deem 49 cents an acceptable price going forward.The
PostalService has only twice lowered the price of a stamp: in the mid-19thcentury from 3 cents to 2
cents, and again after the end of World War I.In neither case was the higher price the result of a
temporaryauthorization.The new price of a postcard stamp, raised by a penny to 34 cents in November,
also is effective next month.Thelast price increase for stamps was in January, when the cost of sendinga
letter rose by a penny to 46 cents. A postcard also increased by onecent to 33 cents.__Associated Press
reporter Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.