Credit Key to Postage Stamp Transactions

April 24, 2008

If you’ve been using old-fashioned money to purchase stamps at a post office vending machine, be warned:  your days of dropping coins in a stamp machine will soon be over.

A spokesman for the Postal Service says the vending machines don’t earn enough coins to pay maintenance costs.  As a result, they’re being removed from post offices across the nation.

Instead, what you’ll have to do is either pay with plastic at a machine or pay with plastic or cash at the counter.  If you choose to pay with a credit or debit card at a machine, be aware of the fact that you’ll have to make a purchase of at least $1.  That means you simply cannot pay 41 cents for a single stamp using a machine.

If you decide to pay at the counter, chances are you’ll have to stand in line.  However, a postal spokesman said he hopes the lines will shorten as people with credit and debit cards opt to use the automated machines.

The Postal Service is promising that the distribution of automated machines using credit and debit cards will be widespread.  But the old-fashioned cash machines will disappear by September.

With its decision to remove coin-operated machines, the Postal Service is simply reacting to a consumer trend.  Many consumers nowadays prefer the convenience of plastic over coins - a credit card is easier to carry than a roll of coins - so it only makes sense that the Postal Service would invest in machines that rely exclusively on debit and credit cards for each transaction.

Still, consumers who prefer to pay with cash may balk at the Postal Service’s decision.  There are still some customers who are leery of using credit or debit cards in an automated machine.  Many of these individuals worry about identity theft.

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