Post Office About to Enter Phone Business:...

Post Office About to Enter Phone Business: Folks who’d rather call than write may soon be able to use the post office for that function as well. The Postal Service will sell prepaid phone cards in eight cities over the next 18 months to test whether it should enter the fast-growing market. The Firstclass Phonecard will be offered in $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 units, which can be recharged using major credit cards. The cards are authorized with a prepaid amount of money and can be used to pay for calls from any touch-tone phone. When used up, they can be recharged by calling a number and punching in a credit card number. American Express Telecom Inc. is handling the technical arrangements for the post office, with MCI acting as the long-distance carrier. The cards provide nine minutes of domestic calls for $5 and up to 300 minutes for $100. Rates for overseas calls vary by country. Test cities are Columbus, Ohio; Miami; Albuquerque, N.M.; Providence, R.I.; Salt Lake City; San Diego, and San Antonio and Austin, Tex.