Veteran sellers of stamps to go into postal obsolescence
23.03.2008 03:20
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- Source: toledoblade.com
Connoisseurs of Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony coins be warned: the tall gray behemoths that have served for decades as the primary distributors of the United States' most unpopular currency will soon be no more. The U.S. Postal Service is scrapping thousands of stamp vending machines this year. The Post Office said that the machines - which dispense change only in coins - are obsolete, in part because they can't be fixed and they don't take credit cards. "Not as many people are using them as they once did," said Ray Jacobs, a regional spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, in explaining the machines' retirement. "Maybe we've put ourselves out of business because we've done such a good job of finding other places for customers to purchase stamps." The machines have been removed from post offices in West Toledo, Oregon, and Franklin Park and will be departing South Toledo post offices this month, Mr. Jacobs said. The remainder of local machines will be gone by March, 2009. In high-traffic locations, such as the Main Post Office in downtown Toledo, the machines' duties have been taken over by full-service "automated traffic centers," where customers can use credit cards to purchase all kinds of postal products. First rolled out several decades ago, the tall postal vending machines were intended to reduce lines at the post office. "We began talking about that in the 1980s, that there was no reason somebody should have to stand in line to buy stamps," Mr. Jacobs said. At the time of their rollout, the postal service had "worked out a deal" with the U.S. Department of Treasury for the machines to dispense Susan B. Anthony dollar coins in change. In this decade, the machines also began distributing the Sacagawea dollars. Across the Cincinnati postal district, which includes Toledo, 420 of the vending machines were in service in 2006. About 140 of them were removed in 2007, an additional 130 will be removed this year, and the remainder will be taken out next year, Mr. Jacobs said. First-class stamps, which will be going up to 42 cents each on May 12, will be available at many large retailers as well as through many automatic teller machines. Contact Larry P. Vellequette at: lvellequette@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.
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