22 Mail Rate Debuts Sunday With a Big ‘D’

WASHINGTON — The price of a first-class stamp goes up 2 cents Sunday to 22 cents, the first rate increase in more than three years, and Americans are preparing for the change by crowding post offices to buy stamps.

Postal officials blamed long lines in part on the Valentine’s Day mail crush but said that thousands of persons were stocking up on “D” stamps bearing no price designation, post cards and envelopes. The new “D” stamp, issued Feb. 1, is a 22-cent stamp that carries no denomination but will represent the new rate until stamps bearing the increase are issued at the end of March.

Post card rates also will rise Sunday, by a penny, to 14 cents.

Plan to Keep Rates 5 Years

Postal officials, who have indicated that they hope to keep rates at the new levels for five years, estimated that 5.8 billion “D” stamps were distributed this week and said some post offices plan to stay open until 11:30 tonight to meet the heavy demand.

Most consumers are indifferent to the new rates, which put the price of a stamp 633% higher than 25 years ago, and accept them as a “fairly moderate increase,” postal spokesman Bob Hoobing said.

However, the conservative Cato Institute this week bitterly criticized the rate hikes, calling the Postal Service one of the “worst-managed” and “least honest” corporations in America. The group urged Congress to authorize private competition with first-class mail delivery.