The cost of mailing a letter will soon see another increase, which may mean changes for some ISU departments within the next few years.

The U.S. Postal Service recently proposed a 1-cent increase in first-class and postcard stamps. According to the proposal, priority mail would rise from $3.20 to $3.45 for the first pound. The new rates, if approved, will not take effect until January 2001.

The cost for standard mail, which is used by many departments to send out information, will increase by 1 cent for automation rates, but presort rates will decrease by 1 cent.

The proposed change will have little or no effect on internal campus mailings, but Printing Services purchasing agent Bill Schmitt said some departments on campus may be affected by the increase.

Postage rates cover the entire cost of operation for the U.S. Postal Service since it receives no tax dollars, according to its Web site.

“It’s been a couple of years, and [the Postal Service] has been in the black,” Schmitt said. “But they can’t sit back and not prepare for the future.”

Periodicals such as magazines and newspapers would receive one of the largest rate increases under the proposal. The cost for commercial magazines will rise an average of 14 percent, the largest since 1990, according to the Postal Service.

The use of technology to make the mail sorting process go even faster is another reason an increase may be necessary, Schmitt said. Instead of using the five-digit zip code on all addresses, post offices use an 11-digit bar code for most bulk mail.

“Bar codes make it easier, cheaper and faster,” he said. “There’s no way they could keep up with current volumes without them.”

However, not all departments will alter the way they do business because of the proposal.

Dalene Abner, director of Public Relations and Publications for the ISU Foundation, said the increase will not affect the mail in her department.

“We’re not going to mail to any fewer people because the postal rates are increasing,” she said.