When postal rates increase, there is a collective groan! Remember when you thumbed through your pile of stamps to find the exact postage for your mail? Thankfully, the dilemma for some of us was solved by the Forever Stamp, a great improvement from the past.

I found an old column written by my good friend Al Recker more than 15 years ago. It is very enjoyable, so we thought we would share it with you.

Fifteen years ago, the 37-cent stamp made an appearance at our post offices.

Al writes, “When the post office opened, it took on the appearance of a supermarket.”

The new stamp showed a 3-cent increase. People actually lined up when the Northampton Post Office opened. Be assured, this writer was not in the line!

The postmaster was a well-known gentleman, Mr. Charles Kutzler. The post office was filled with customers until the 5 p.m. closing. Many customers purchased 3-cent stamps to add to the 34-cent stamps they had on hand.

The post office had received a shipment of 50,000 3-cent stamps, and 35,000 were sold during the Monday opening. The postmaster quickly ordered another shipment, fearing he would not have enough stamps for the week. The 700 coils of 100 3-cent stamps were down to 200 by Tuesday morning.

The two clerks at the windows experienced one of the busiest days in years, so he rotated clerks to provide breaks for employees. They all were feeling the pressure of the day. You can expect some people were impatient and became frustrated. I guess all of us have experienced frustrations waiting in long lines, which has become more common in some of our retail establishments. Parking is also limited around the post office. Hope no one was issued a parking ticket!

There was relief when the day ended in July 2002 at many of our post offices. This sure has changed in this computer age.

Hope you have your supply of Forever Stamps. I do!