U.S. Postal Service

There was a time when I used around 150 - 200 first class stamps a year. Now, with online bill paying, and Internet submission of invoices to my clients, I write three or four checks each month and a book of stamps lasts all year, maybe longer.

The price of postage, however, increases almost every year and, inevitably, the result is a collection of unused - but now inadequate - stamps sitting in a desk drawer. That means a trip to the post office to buy a sheet of one or two cent stamps. Needless to say the number bought rarely matches the number of semi-obsolete stamps sitting in the desk drawer.

It is rare for a government organization to do the right and sensible thing but the United States Postal Service has got it right. USPS has issued a 'Forever' stamp that is good for first class mail from the time of purchase until the end of time.

This is a simple, although not necessarily obvious, idea that has benefits for everyone. Customers can avoid an unneeded trip to the post office, the Postal Service no longer needs to print so many low denomination stamps, and the incidence of mail returned for insufficient postage is reduced.

Everyone wins which, when dealing with government, is unusual. Let us hope that more civil servants will have the courage to abandon procedure and conventional wisdom in favor of service to citizens.