Postage rates increase

THE SIMPSONS:
Cartoon family.

On May 11, a Monday, the price for a one-ounce First-Class Mail stamp will increase from 42 cents to 44 cents, the U.S. Postal Service announced recently.

Each additional ounce will stay at the current 17 cents.

Since January 2001, rates for first-class stamps have gone up 10 cents.

Prices for other mailing services - Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (including Parcel Post), and Extra Services - will also rise by an average of 4 percent.

One of the first commemorative stamps to bear the new rate is a series celebrating "The Simpsons," an animated TV show about an all-American family by the same name. The stamps bear the likenesses of the show's title characters Homer and Marge Simpson, as well as their children, Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie.

The US Postal Service sent out a press release promoting the new stamps for America's best-loved animated family that are to be released Thursday, May 7. They even promote ballot stuffing by saying "Vote Early and Often: It's the American Way" to call attention to their online poll for the public's favorite Simpsons character.

"D'oh!" as Homer often says on the show.

Matt Groening, creator and executive producter of "The Simpsons," reacted to the dubious honor in more Bart-like fashion.

"This is the biggest and most adhesive honor 'The Simpsons' has ever received," Groening said.

The USPS is planning a "First-Day-of-Issue Dedication Ceremony" with Groening, fellow executive producer James L. Brooks, and several of the Simpsons actors, at Fox Studios in Los Angeles at 11:15 a.m.