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Gearing up for the rate change.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

The stamp people at the U-S Postal Service were expecting the rate change that's
now been announced for the end of January -- the word used was 'inevitable' given
the agency's financial woes -- so they've already picked the designs.

Next year, instead of sending picture postcards home from vacation with an Aloha
Shirt stamp, you'll use one with an apple. There will be four different varieties,
and, no, none of them has a touch-screen.

If you want a postcard without a picture, the design will show a golden deer. Stamped
envelopes will feature the bank swallow.

If your letter weighs more than an ounce, you might use a hummingbird stamp for the
extra 20 cents. Or if you're sending several three-ounce letters, that 66-cent stamp
will be a tufted puffin.

The U-S Postal Service is producing four different kaleidoscope designs for the one-ounce
rate, 46 cents. The agency believes business users like colorful stamps to draw
attention to their mail.

And the stamp for greeting cards, which require a surcharge because they're not
the standard shape, will be the Spice Bush Swallowtail Butterfly Ñ quite a mouthful.

While not as exotic as commemoratives, THESE stamps, plus the Forever-rate flag,  are
the ones you're most likely to see on your mail when you see any stamps at all.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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