“I think that’s a great idea,’’ Sean Swilling, a research analyst for commercial property, said inside a downtown Washington post office during a mail run. “For me, a guy who uses snail-mail regularly, it’s a hassle to get 1- or 2-cent stamps. Streamline things — that would be perfect.’’
When the Postal Service unveiled its first-class commemorative stamps for 2011 yesterday, all were marked “forever’’ instead of the current rate of 44 cents.
The initial first-class stamp under the new policy will be the Lunar New Year: Year of the Rabbit stamp, to be issued Jan. 22. It will be followed by stamps commemorating Kansas statehood on Jan. 29 and, in February, the centennial of President Ronald Reagan’s birth.
The Forever Stamp, first issued in April 2007 and featuring the Liberty Bell, was designed for use regardless of changes in postal rates. It is sold at the prevailing price for 1 ounce of domestic first-class postage.
The Postal Service says that 28 billion Forever Stamps have been sold, generating $12.1 billion in revenue, and that stamps without denominations account for 85 percent of its stamp program.
The Postal Service sought a 2-cent increase in postage rates for 2011, but the independent Postal Rate Commission rejected the request. The post office is appealing the decision in federal court. The Internet and the economy have been cited for a 3.5 percent decline in mail volume from 2009 to 2010.
Other stamps for next year include ones for the centennial of the Indianapolis 500; the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War; Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and actors Helen Hayes and Gregory Peck.
