The Archetypal Dumb Secretary Story

The independent Postal Rate Commission has recommended a two-cent hike in the price of a first-class stamp. The Postal Service's Board of Governors will make the final decision, which if approved will bring a regular stamp to 39 cents and raise the postcard rate a penny to 24 cents. If the Board of Governors say yes, the change will take effect in January.

On the occasion of a previous postage rate hike, a friend told me how his large office dealt with the problem of a desk drawer filled with the lower denomination stamps. The office secretary took it upon herself to throw away several thousand of what she thought were obsolete stamps.

It did not occur to her that they could have bought a corresponding quantity of two or three cent stamps to make up the difference in the new rate.