Please, Mr. Postman, raise my postage!

(CBS News)

Doomsday talk about the Post Office has moved our Ben Stein to speak out post haste:

I see that the U.S. Postal Service is contemplating drastic cutbacks in postal service, closing many post offices and slowing down the delivery of mail ... maybe virtually ending the postal service.

This, of course, is because the Postal Service is losing money as ever more correspondence of every kind is done by free (or almost free) via instantaneous email.

But just for me, email will never replace a printed or handwritten letter on an actual piece of paper. The most cunning email, with moving angels and dolphins and music attached, is not as touching to me as a letter some kindly soul sat down and wrote to me.

I guess it's because I am 66 years old, and I can remember the anticipation of getting letters and cards from relatives - mostly now long gone - and girls I had mad crushes on in high school.

Maybe it's because when I was a lonely freshman in college, my dear old mother (then young) wrote me a letter every single day.

Or maybe it's because when my lovely sister went off to college, I sent HER a letter every day for first year and she returned the favor.

Maybe it's because my glorious wife sent me wonderful letters in her ornate script all through our courtship when long distance was too expensive for students.

It's not just that - I love the who mail process. I love the post office in Sandpoint, Idaho, or Malibu or Rancho Mirage, and the friendly people who work there. I love seeing other people when I correspond. I like the smile of Barbara, my mail woman in West Hollywood.

The big problem is that the mail is too cheap. Forty-four cents is just not enough for first class mail. For those of us who love to mail things, we should have to pay for it. A dollar for a first class stamp sounds fair. To get a note card from Sandpoint, Ida., to Brooklyn?

It's dirt cheap!

Please, please, Mr. Postman Obama, let us pay more, but let's keep mail service as it is - it's a beautiful thing.

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by rawlingsmom October 20, 2011 10:39 AM EDT: I tried to MAIL this letter to you, but could not find an address.

I very much appreciate your segment on CBS Sunday morning about the Post Office. I believe in sending and receiving mail. I appreciate the relationships that grow with the postal carrier. It is important to keep this necessary system alive along with the tradition. However, I disagree with the need to increase the cost of stamps to $1. I believe two things would happen.

1. The poor people in this country who still use the post office to mail their bills, cannot afford $1

2. It would reduce the number of personal cards and letters that are sent. Since they are so rare now in the email and twitter age.

Instead, why doesn't the post office increase the cost of postage for the companies who send me junk mail? They should have to pay $1 to mail garbage to me (I call it garbage because that is where it ends up). That would, in turn, fund the growing cost of business for the post office. It might minimize the amount of garbage in our mail boxes, too (which nobody will complain about). I'm just tired of being pre-approved for every credit card and do not need another pizza coupon. I have found that when I call to order my pizza, I get the special just by asking for it.
Thank you for bringing this important discussion up and hope that you will follow it up with a discussion about other options.; Reply to this comment


by Gyuricza October 19, 2011 2:12 PM EDT: Ben, you missed the boat on this one. Times change and we all must adjust. It's hard but it's a fact. It is time for the Post Office to take a real deep and hard look at it's operations. The mail will continue to be delivered and maybe the prices will go up but paying more without adjustment to management and policy isn't going to help anyone and might just, really kill the mailman.; Reply to this comment


by lettercarrier18052 October 18, 2011 2:57 PM EDT: nycgir318, you must realize that the big shots at USPS HQ are creating the staff shortages at post offices to get the public irate at clerks. There is a hint of conspiracy between the PostMaster General and the Republican Teabaggers. The PMG is doing his best to have the USPS privatized. Contact your congressional representatives before you lose the post office.; Reply to this comment


by dictionary101 October 18, 2011 12:16 PM EDT: I usually love Ben Stein and his commentaries, but this time I think he is WAY OFF BASE.

Let's stop sticking it to the little guy and start making big business pay its fair share for postage. I'm tired of all the junk mail I get that is mailed a variety of reduced rates. If the companies that mail this stuff -- stuff that usually goes straight from my mailbox to the shred bin -- was mailed at the same rate as the general public's mail, I'm willing to bet that they would mail less of it.

The post office also needs to stop making so many different stamps. Let's concentrate on getting the mail from point A to point B and not on the very small percentage of people who collect stamps.

Also, not all companies accept online payments without charging a huge fee. Under Mr. Stein's "plan", I have to choose between spending $2.50-$5.00 to make an online payment or $1.00 for a stamp. OUCH!; Reply to this comment


by prettylass-2009 October 18, 2011 7:35 AM EDT: From listening to other news channels (msnbc) the problem is NOT with the postage but with Congress messing with the post office. Forcing the post office to fully fund pensions for people they MIGHT hire 75 years in the future. This has become the 10 ton anchor chain attached to the neck of the post office pulling them under water, not the postage rates. I would expect better reporting.; Reply to this comment

by californiadreaming1 October 17, 2011 3:17 PM EDT

I totally agree with the author. The USPS has a place in this country. Raise the rates.

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by Hala_c October 17, 2011 6:17 PM EDT: Start by raising Bulk class rates substantially!


by Hala_c October 17, 2011 1:13 PM EDT: Please, Mr. Postman, raise the rate for BULK mail so that CORPORATE AMERICA can start carrying MORE of the burden that they create upon your service? Or, just dump the cost on the back of the American people to help prove the point that OUR GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR THE BENEFIT OF CORPORATIONS AND TO THE DETRIMENT OF ITS CITIZENS.; Reply to this comment


by mswolfestock October 17, 2011 12:42 PM EDT: I put my bills in the mail because I'm not comfortable with paying them on line, or banking on line for that matter. But I quit sending letters a long time ago because writing hurts my hand too much and my computer printer eats ink cartridges like there's no tomorrow. I send e-mails to my mother, or call her (she loves the internet but I can't get her to ditch her land line phone). I do like to shop on eBay with Pay Pal but that's where my trust in the internet stops.

I'm leery of the Postal Service because I'm always getting other people's mail (and wondering exactly where MY mail is going), and I hate the idea that these over-paid postal workers don't give a hoot.

The bottom line - If you REALLY want something to get where it's going, send it by Registered/Certified mail or use Fed-X. It's all a question of getting what you pay for.; Reply to this comment


by payasyougo October 17, 2011 9:16 AM EDT: Please, Mr. Postman, drop Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday delivery!

Mail three times a week is plenty!; Reply to this comment

by Skruffy1 October 17, 2011 8:06 AM EDT

I agree that postage should be raised to whatever it costs to provide the service, ONCE WASTE IS ELIMINATED. Our post office people say that junk mail is what "supports" the Postal Service. But obviously, that "support" isn't enough. Raise the junk mail rates, too.

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by mswolfestock October 17, 2011 12:32 PM EDT: Agreed. Junk mail rates should be increased to the point at which it becomes too expensive for the senders. Then we will have performed a valuable environmental service when they quit producing and sending billions and billions of unwanted catalogs and advertisements.

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