Postage Rate Hike

It’s just around the corner. That every three-year event that takes everyone’s mind off the woes of the world. It won’t be long before our attention is drawn off the gulf crisis, the S&L; fiasco, failing banks, the recession and even the astronomical price of oranges. What can this Apocalypse be? The postage stamp is going up 4 cents in February (Part A, Jan. 5).

Are the American people prepared for such a catastrophe? I think they are. They revved themselves up for the occasion throughout the three years the stamp sold for a quarter. They stood in the long postal lines wringing their hands. They phoned the postmasters complaining over every human error and all the while the world crumbled around them.

The Postal Service does more than deliver mail. For 25 cents you get more than Grandma’s letter from across the country: You get emotional catharsis. You have somebody to bash when time are bad.

There has been lots of talk of privatizing the Postal Service. If Congress does that, I think it would be an injustice. Right now Congress has a scapegoat plump and ready for punching. Why pull it off the market?

I don’t know about anyone else, but I thank God for the Postal Service. In fact, they are kind of a small miracle. As high as the fuel prices are nowadays, they can still get your letter to New York or whenever for just two bits. And don’t forget all the free mail to Saudi Arabia. But then, I have to admit I’m like the rest of them; I’m ready to pour out my bile on the mail service even though it does make me look like a nickel-and-dime sort of guy.

DAVID MONREAL

El Toro