‘Stamp of Approval’ for Postage Hike

I’m no great fan of the U.S. Postal Service, having had my ups and downs with the service, but overall your editorial is right on (“Stamp of Approval,” March 24). Postal rates and service in the U.S. get high marks when compared with almost any foreign country.

I am a frequent traveler and an inveterate postcard sender. In a foreign country when we have a pocket full of foreign currency we may not stop to compute the actual cost of a postage stamp. In Spain recently paying 60 pesetas for a stamp to mail a postcard (cost of postcard not included) didn’t bother me much, even after I’d converted the cost of the stamp to 54 cents U.S. However, I mailed the card in Madrid on Feb. 27, to a friend in Glendale, and it arrived 25 days later, long after I’d returned home.

I guess I won’t complain about the postal increase since when I travel, anything I mail in this country gets there, even when my luggage doesn’t.

HANK KOVELL

Los Angeles