SpringfieldNewsSun.com

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — A penny isn't worth much these days — unless you save 6,000 of them.

That is what the Springfield City School District did last week when it purchased 6,000 postage stamps before the May 12 penny increase in the price of first class mail.

The $60 the district saved is not much, "but a penny saved is a penny earned, I guess," said Susan Cleary, an employee in the district's treasurer's office.

The school district staff member was among hundreds of individuals and businesses taking advantage of the Forever stamps that the U.S. Postal Service introduced during last year's penny increase. Those stamps are valid for first-class mail regardless of when the parcel is mailed.

Forever Stamps previously purchased at 41 cents will still be sufficient when the price goes up to 42 cents today, May 12.

"We've certainly seen an increase in sales and we anticipate that will increase even more this week," Springfield Postmaster Susan Vanzant said Monday, May 5. "We sold a little over 8,000 forever stamps last week, we got 8,000 more in (Monday) ... ."

The school district had planned to purchase its year-end supply of stamps anyway.

"It's nice that we were able to save a little bit on them before the price went up," Cleary said.

The price hike comes just 12 months after the last one.

However, the increase is still under the rate of inflation — something the postal service has promised to maintain despite rising fuel costs, Vanzant said.

"It costs us $1.5 million every time gas goes up one cent," she said.

On May 5, 2007, the average cost of fuel was $3.05; last week, on May 5, it was $3.61, an increase to the postal service of $84 million.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.

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