GIFT SHOP'S AIM TO KEEP MAIL COSTS DOWN

There is a new gift shop in Cape Girardeau -- the U.S. Post Office.

Americans have long relied on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver greeting cards and gifts for Father's Day, Mother's Day, weddings, graduations and other celebrations.

Now the Postal Service is offering its customers a convenience of purchasing a number of items for those and other occasions.

The Postal Service is going into the retail business with a goal in mind: to avoid increases in postal rates.

But even as retail sales are starting, a sign has cropped up indicating that first-class letter postage rates may go up next year. The Washington Post reported Monday that the Postal Service is printing millions of rate-change stamps, which could be used as "transition stamps."

A recommendation to raise the price of stamps could come this summer. The Postal Service Board of Governors and the independent Postal Rate Commission would then consider approving the hike for sometime next year.

Customers walking into the Cape Girardeau Post Office these days are greeted by displays of baseball caps and ties bearing stamp art. World War II fighters can be found on stationery, ferocious dinosaurs on party invitations, and spring flowers and other designs on all-occasion cards.

These and other items -- a total of 31 -- are on sale through the marketing campaign to sell collectibles, jewelry and clothing.

Matthew Peters, manager of customer services at the Cape Girardeau Post Office, said a number of the products were already available at the local post office and that other items will be arriving soon. Now on hand here are greeting cards, stationery, magnetic note pads and note cards.

The Bugs Bunny T-Shirts will be here soon, said Peters.

"The new post office sales started prior to Mother's Day," said Peters. "We had good response on sales of the Mother's Day cards."

The Cape Girardeau Post Office is also offering postal customers a free Hallmark card with the purchase of a $20 First Class Phonecard.

The Hallmark card matches one of two new phone-card designs -- "Love You Dad," and "Congratulations" stamp art. Inside the card is the inscription, "I've called on you my whole life, now the call's on me."

The cards work at any telephone: pay, residential, touch-tone or rotary in the U.S.

The Postal Service is mandated to break even on its annual budget, said Cape Girardeau Postmaster Mike Keefe. "If we can sell enough products to keep the postage down, we can meet that break-even mandate."

Keefe said the Postal Service was "new in the business of retail."

On one other occasion, the Postal Service attempted some retail activity a few years ago and gave it up when the actions drew sharp criticisms from some businessmen. They were angry that the agency was competing with them in product sales.

This time around the Postal Service will not be competing with retailers, said Kaye DeShields, manager of the post office's retail products and services development department. DeShields said the post offices would be selling products that are not available at retail outlets.

Warner Brothers will have products based on the Bugs Bunny Stamp, which debuted last weekend. "They are not quite the same products that we will be selling," said DeShields.

The new stamp shows a toothy Bugs Bunny leaning on a mailbox and clutching a carrot with "USA" floating nearby in cloud-style letters.

A total of 31 items will be available in 454 Postal Stores across the country The Postal Service hopes to bring in as much as $75 million by next year.

"The Postal Service does not use tax dollars to cover the cost of operating our nation's mail system,' said Keefe. "These new sources of revenue will help us maintain universal service at affordable rates.