How will the rising postal rates affect smaller business use of the post office?
Thomas Harpointner: Businesses already have cut back on postal use. The rate hike is making the press, but now they will be raising the rates every year. Next May 1, it will be one more penny, at least. It could be much higher. With the rising cost of gasoline, any business that requires transporting goods will be affected. And we’ve already seen a 25% reduction in postal use by business. E-mail is being used by virtually every type of business. There are some things that can’t be sent by e-mail–medical reports, credit reports, law firms’ documents and anything that needs to go through the post office; in some cases, the stamp makes the document official. Any official business will continue with postal mail, such as any type of a legal document that requires an original signature or postmark, for example, if a company is being sued. Is there a way for those types of businesses to avoid snail mail? Banks have found a way to circumvent the post office with direct deposit and paperless s
